Heels & Horsepower Magazine

A Million Reasons To Choose Chery

by H&h Admin

Chery South Africa is giving South African motorists a million reasons to choose its modern and stylish SUVs.

Chery South Africa is giving South African motorists a million reasons to choose its modern and stylish SUVs.

The company recently launched its Tiggo 4 Pro with an astonishing 10-year or 1-million-kilometre engine warranty. This beats the best industry warranties by 40%.

The warranty has two elements. A standard 5-year / 150 000 km factory warranty applies to all new Tiggo 4 Pro models sold. This warranty remains with the vehicle.  The second, a free extension for another 5 years and a massive 850 000 km focussed on the engine, is added automatically at the end of the first warranty, provided that the vehicle is still owned by the original owner. 

As is the standard practice throughout the industry, the warranty requires the service and repair of the vehicle by Chery Dealerships, within Chery standards and using original Chery parts and components.

Added to this industry leading warranty, Chery recently announced its agreement with the Automobile Association of South Africa to provide roadside assistance and support for five years unlimited kilometres. This means that Chery owners can expect roadside support – with services ranging from help with flat tyres or batteries to safe overnight vehicle storage in case of an accident.

In the past decade, Chery has completely reinvented itself as a global design, engineering and manufacturing powerhouse.

“Modern Chery vehicles represent the best in terms of technology and performance while meeting CNCAP five-star safety standards,” says Tony Liu, Executive Deputy General Manager of Chery South Africa.

At the same time, explains Liu, Chery has partnered with industry leaders like Aisin, Getrag, Bosch and Schaeffler to perfect its internal combustion, hybrid and all-electric powertrains. All this forms part of Chery’s 457 plan, which will see Chery focus on four new energy product platforms, five universal subsystems and seven core technologies, including all types of propulsion.

“We have invested heavily in our own capabilities and now employ over 5 500 people in our Research and Development department that now develops everything from traditional petrol engines to all-electric powertrains, hydrogen systems and even aeronautical engines.

“It is with this in mind that we are supremely confident in offering this decade-long, 1-million-kilometre engine warranty,” says Liu.

Chery has partnered with 30 dealers across South Africa and will soon expand its partnership to more dealers with the aim of offering complete coverage of all the major towns and cities.  This will ensure that Chery owners have easy access to Chery technical specialists for services and warranty support.

“We hope the 1-million-kilometre engine warranty will set the benchmark and that our service and parts support through our dealer network will seal the deal. There is now no reason at all not to test drive a Chery Tiggo 4 Pro,” says Liu.

Ford Takes Parking to the Next Level, with an Automated Valet

The search for a parking space can be a daunting endeavour, and when a space is found, it might be a tight squeeze to get the vehicle in. The solution? Leave that work to the vehicle.

As part of a German Association of the Automobile Industry collaboration, Ford has partnered with infrastructure providers and technology companies, including Bosch, to demonstrate the potential for a connected vehicle to communicate with the car park infrastructure to not only find a space but to park itself too. Automated Valet Parking enables drivers to use an app to send the vehicle into an automated parking manoeuvre – all from outside the vehicle.

The technology, currently in the research and demonstration phase, takes the stress out of parking and could be extended to enable drivers to send the vehicle to a car wash or charging station; or even have parcels delivered to the vehicle in the car park.

Ford will demonstrate Automated Valet Parking at IAA in Munich, running from September 6-12. 

In Europe, a standard parking space is 2.44 metres by 4.88 metres. But while vehicles have become increasingly larger over the years, many parking spaces have stayed the same size.

Automated Valet Parking could enable up to 20 percent more vehicles to be parked in a car park – without the potential for damage resulting from vehicles parking too close to each other or occupants opening doors against other vehicles.

How it works

With Automated Valet Parking, sensor technology set up in the car park takes over the control of the vehicle and manages all the traffic inside the parking area. This is done via vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. 

The car park sensors recognise and localise the vehicle to guide its parking manoeuvre. If the infrastructure senses something in the vehicle’s path, such as a pedestrian, vehicle or hazard, it stops the vehicle immediately.

Upon arriving at the car park, the driver leaves the vehicle in a designated area and uses the FordPass app to start the automated guidance to a free parking space.*

When the car is parked, it could also become a personal parcel drop-off point, with delivery companies accessing the vehicle to leave parcels in the boot.

In the future, further connected services could be developed to offer more convenience and benefits to customers.

Drivers use the FordPass app to request the return of the vehicle to the designated area, expediting the pick-up experience and enabling the driver and passengers to comfortably enter the vehicle. This saves any long walks through large car parks or the potential problem of trying to find the vehicle again. 

Sadly the technology is not available in South Africa and in all likelihood will not be available to us any time soon.