Chery QQ 2

Even though a large amount of a car’s success comes from offering attributes which aren’t found on the competitors, it’s easy to observe there’s a particular “recipe” followed by the vehicles of a given category. Off-road vehicles, for example, avoid any delicacy at all costs. Sports cars highlight improved driving even at the low-cost versions which keep the standard powertrain, and all the other categories have their own particularities. But what so special items would bring a car which became famous for being cute?

The strategy used with this supermini’s first phase enables the use of an expression probably created in the United States which, in turn, takes a word from the Mexican everyday vocabulary: what Chery did with QQ really demanded cojones. What should’ve been one more Chinese subcompact’s arrival ended having worldwide attention due to GM’s claim of the car being nothing but a copy of Daewoo Matiz, which was released five years earlier – as if the big visual resemblance wasn’t enough, GM proved it was possible to interchange the cars’ front and back doors. Nevertheless, the Chinese automaker kept selling QQ since 2006 without any important visual changes, even giving it a sedan sibling in 2006, which was named QQ6 and changed the hatchback to QQ3. Even the posterior bad ratings on EuroNCAP crash tests seemed to be ignored by this hatchback, which has apparently managed to use all that bad publicity simply as “publicity”, and for free. This car became a best-seller in a market which seems to have thousands of options in all sizes and prices, and Chery decided to expand this success. If it would be hard to persuade the Europeans to buy a car with that safety reputation, the next attempt was the emergent markets.

In fact, it wasn’t so difficult to make the customers overlook aspects such as safety or modernity because QQ always arrived with very competitive prices. However, what has always made this car different from the direct competitors is the playful styling which the new phase enhances. Without deep investments such as platform changing, Chery shows how to escape from the current trends of fluid and aggressive lines. The new supermini presents round, bubbly shapes all over the exterior, including questionable tastes such as the very odd position for the back doors’ handles, a trunk lid entirely in glass or both bumpers’ plastic portion, whose edges resemble cartoon hearts. The interior ironically presents more classical shapes, but can come in five different colors. The new QQ (once again without the “3”) also receives external daytime lights and a more sophisticated audio system, in order to increase what was already a very nice item package for this category. The powertrain was also carried over, using a 1.0L with 69 hp with five-speed automatic or manual transmissions, or a CVT option. Chery has plans to make this car’s official debut at the upcoming Shanghai Auto Show and later start to export it to most of the countries where the old phase has been offered.

Lançamento no Brasil (22/04/2015)

Pouco mais de um ano depois da apresentação mundial, o novo QQ chega ao Brasil. A Chery planeja produzi-lo no Brasil, mas por enquanto ele continua importado da China. O subcompacto traz reformas extensas por dentro e por fora, e aproveitou para ganhar uma nova lista de versões: a Look elevou o preço de base, passando a R$ 31.990, e a Act custa R$ 33.990. Isso o retira da busca do menor preço de um zero-quilômetro no Brasil, mas se obtiver uma recepção adequada, permitirá à empresa trabalhar com maiores margens de lucro. Isso será muito importante para quando o modelo começar a ser fabricado localmente. Afinal, investimentos como a fábrica de Jacareí (SP) são muito altos, e as vendas dos carros chineses no Brasil ainda são fracas.

Quando se escolhe a versão Look, o QQ traz de série ar-condicionado, direção hidráulica, quadro de instrumentos com velocímetro em LCD, LEDs diurnos, sistema de áudio com USB, e vidros elétricos dianteiros. Comparada a ela, a Act é basicamente a adição de um pacote de itens opcionais: vêm ajuste elétrico para farois e retrovisores, alarme, rodas de liga leve aro 14”, sensor de estacionamento traseiro, e sistema de áudio com leitor de CD e MP3. O motor é sempre um 1.0 Acteco, com três cilindros e doze válvulas. Ele entrega 69 cv e é sempre associado a um câmbio manual de cinco marchas. O modelo nacional deve começar a ser oferecido até o final deste ano.