PODCAST: Chery Tiggo Cross HEV game changer in the making

Ambitious Chinese carmaker Chery launched an all-out onslaught on South Africa’s number one manufacturer Toyota by rolling out the Tiggo Cross HEV.

The Chery Tiggo 4 has made huge strides to rank as one of Mzansi’s favourite passenger cars. Now the Tiggo Cross HEV, which stands for hybrid electric vehicle, has entered the battlefield against the country’s best-selling new energy vehicle, the Toyota Corolla Cross HEV.

In typical Chinese fashion, the war starts with the pricing. At R439 900 the entry-level Chery Tiggo Cross HEV in Comfort guise undercuts the most affordable Corolla Cross in Xs guise by a whopping R54 500.

Chery Tiggo Cross HEV makes a Pitstop

In this week’s episode of The Citizen Motoring’s Pitstop podcast, we discuss the Tiggo Cross. Road Test Editor Mark Jones has driven the Chery after also spending lots of time in the Corolla Cross earlier this year, pits the two against each other.

The Chery Tiggo Cross HEV is powered by a 1.5-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine hooked up to electric motor and 1.83kWh battery pack. The combined power output is 150kW and 310Nm which goes to the front wheels by a dedicated hybrid transmission. This is much more than the Toyota Corolla Cross’ combined power output of 90kW/142Nm.

During our high-performance test, the Chery Tiggo Cross HEV clocked 8 seconds in going from 0 to 100km/h. The Corolla Cross came in at just over 12 seconds.

ALSO READ: 10 things you need to know about the new Chery Tiggo Cross HEV

Frugal sipper

Chery claims that the Cross HEV will only sip 5.4 litres per 100km and for the first few days we’ve had it on test are getting close to this number. Mark reckons it will settle in the high fives, maybe 6L/100km at the most. This is fractionally higher than what we achieved in the Toyota Corolla Cross HEV.