Race In January, Sell In March: China's Chery To Launch Dakar-Tested Rely SUVs
When China’s Chery announced last December that they would be will be the first ever Chinese brand to enter the venerable Dakar Rally, a lot of people said: “Yeah, sure. Chinese cars, in the Dakar? Don’t they fall apart when they leave the lot?”
Chery’s team didn’t win, but they survived.
Why are we rehashing Dakar Rally results from January? Chery will launch the Dakar-surviving X5 SUV under the Rely sub-brand on March 28, nearly three months after the vehicle’s 2010 Dakar trial, Gasgoo reports. The X5 2.0 liter direct injected version is expected to go for $23,400. The puny engine, used in an SUV for the first time, is good for 235Nm of torque and 146kW of power. More like a shopping cart, and nothing to win a rally with. Chery/Rely also promised a turbo diesel for those who want more oomph. And while on the way to Wal-Mart (yeah, they have those in Beijing) you can dream of winning the Dakar.
Any similarities with the BMW X5 are purely coincidental. BMW came in 3rd at the race. In a X3.
Speaking of similarities, B&B member MCS correctly points out that the Rely brand has won notoriety for a less manly product in the U.S.A. 1978 Procter and Gamble introduced superabsorbent Rely tampons, which killed 40 women due to toxic shock syndrome. Rely was pulled off the shelves in 1980. Chery may want to re-think its branding strategy before selling the Rely X5 to soccer moms in the U.S.A.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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You sure that is 146 kW Bertel, or is it 146 hp - the former would be quite a high state of tune for a NA petrol 2 litre in an SUV.
Too bad that Dakar isn't Dakar any more, since the organizers got a threat from Al Q and went running off with their tails between their legs - the terrorists say 'jump' and we ask 'how high?'. Has it ever occurred to anyone that letting terrorists have a veto on any cultural event or human freedom they please is precisely what they want? Hell, why not cut to the chase and just ask Al Qaeda for a little manual of things that are acceptable for us to do, so they don't have to go through the trouble of issuing a specific threat for each event they'd like us to cancel... Sorry. Sore spot. Dakar was one of the last and purest races around, and the one event not shredded by safety paranoia, was eviscerated instead by some guys who not only didn't kill anyone with machine guns, or even scare anyone with machine guns, but threatened that they MIGHT scare someone with machine guns. Gahhhh...