Toyota, Pearl Clutching, and the $30k Chery Bomb

Toyota is nervously clutching her pearls like a Downton dowager doing a dubious Dubonnet at the dinner dance of death. While the big T celebrates its 15th year as dominatrix, the rest of the country is having a midlife crisis, and instead of trading for the big-dick energy of a ute or motorcycle, buyers are trading petrol guzzlers for battery power. Petrol sales slid 14%, because paying for fuel is so last season, while plug-in hybrids saw a 170.5 per cent jump. It turns out Australians love a fence-sitter that can use both sparks and juice.

While not a PHEV, the 2025 Chery Tiggo 4 Hybrid gives Toyota a kick in the nads it won’t soon forget. It isn’t here to make friends over a rubber at the bridge club. This budget buster is a giant grenade tossed into the middle of a very expensive garden party. At $29,990 driveaway, it is a middle finger to the “legacy” pricing that has turned a simple car purchase into a home loan application.

Chery Australia has ballooned, as have her Chinese sisters. They’re doing Japanese better than the Japanese, and out-Korea-ing the Koreans. Electrified motoring is coming to people who don’t want to sell a kidney just to get a hybrid badge. Hitting showrooms in July 2025, this newcomer was the budget bomb that the market lapped up in big kittenesque gulps. Starting at just $29,990 Driveaway for the Urban and $34,990 for the Ultimate, Chery is sending faithful old retainer Toyota to the knackery. Here are Tiggo’s figures to prove it:

• Over 20,000 (20,149 exactly) units were sold in 2025.
• Second best-selling small SUV for 2025.
• Best-selling small SUV in Sep 25, Nov 25, & Jan 26.
• Fourth best-selling car in Jan 26.

Meanwhile, Toyota slipped 22%. Worse still, while the RAV4 usually treats the top of the sales charts like a private box at the opera, January 2026 saw it relegated to the nosebleed sections. Toyota shifted just 1,757 units, a staggering 65 per cent nose-dive as buyers parked their wallets in anticipation of the new-gen model dropping in April. Meanwhile, the Chery Tiggo 4 divebombed the party with 2,234 units. That is a 119 per cent explosion that catapulted the budget babe up to fourth place overall, leaving the once-untouchable RAV4 in tenth place and very firmly in the rear-vision mirror. It turns out that when the Japanese giant paused to take a couple of shots, the new wave was more than happy to kick the stool out from under it while Toyota was slumped over the bar.

Under the bonnet lives a 1.5-litre petrol engine paired with a series-parallel hybrid system that keeps fuel use down to a thrifty 5.4L/100km, and only 4.1 around town. That means fewer fuel stops and more time enjoying the open road. It EV’s itself into a frenzy at low speeds, giving that eerie, premium silence that was once consigned to tree-huggers and taxi drivers. Remember, it was the hybrid Camry that drove a stake into the gas-conversion industry.

The Tiggo 4 Hybrid builds on Chery’s formula of simple, inoffensive design with loads of tech in the cabin. You get dual 10.25-inch displays and wireless connectivity that actually works, unlike some of the prehistoric interfaces found in the old guard’s stable. Lucas Harris, Chery Australia’s Chief Commercial Officer, says adding hybrid power to their most accessible SUV is a natural step. It is one small step for Chery, one giant leap for mankind (see what I did there?).

ABOVE: Subaru Trailseeker vs Chinese EVs as Solterra sales slide

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Compare this to the legacy brands such as poor old Subaru, who struggle into the party in a pair of knackered heels trying to flog a hybrid Forester as a premium product when buyers want value instead. Besides, Subaru is seriously overestimating its standing as it slid off the top-10, never to return.

Dowload Specifications HERE

Then we have the RAV4 PHEV starting at $58,840 plus on-road costs. You could buy two entry-level Tiggo 4 Hybrids for the price of one high-spec Toyota and still have change for a very boozy lunch at the Ivy. Then there is BYD, which moved 5,001 vehicles this January. This has catapulted them to sixth place while established brands watch their numbers slide like a cheap wig in a gale. While Honda is raising pinkies and VW is checking its watch, Chery is just walking in and taking the furniture.

For those flirting with electrification but terrified of the range-anxiety bogeyman, the Tiggo 4 Hybrid has petrol flexibility with battery benefits, all wrapped in a tidy SUV package. RAV4’s beige basement cabin looks très banal, whereas Tiggo 4 Hybrid has creature comforts like heated seats and a full LCD display. The surfacing is soft and the materials formed into pleasing sweeps with gaps that meet properly.

The equipment level includes tasty sunroofs and a decent audio system, but it is the drive that seals the deal for us. Tiggo 4 Hybrid’s around-town experience is reasonably quiet, fairly smooth, and very comfortable. 150kW is no powerhouse, but 310Nm of torque through a 1-speed EV-like “transmission” give passengers that gliding sensation now familiar in full EVs. There is no steering feel, so you may as well have as light a sensation as possible.

If this was a $60k SUV we would be far more critical, but at half that price, Tiggo 4 Hybrid will continue to slay the opposition. The only real threat is from other Chinese such as the H6 PHEV from HAVAL.

The market is moving, and it isn’t moving in Toyota’s direction. While the giants play the long game and hope for the best, the challengers are winning the short game with better tech and prices that don’t make you want to weep into your porridge in a soporific stupour. The era of the legacy badge is ending. It is being replaced by the era of the battery, the budget, and the brand that at least pretends to give a toss about your wallet.

Toyota is still top of the leaderboard for now, mostly because we are creatures of habit who will wait six months for a car just because it has a familiar badge on the grille. But habits can be broken. And at $29,990 driveaway, Chery is holding a very large hammer.

The Hybrid Hit List 2026

Model	Origin	Tech Type	Power	Price (Driveaway)
Chery Tiggo 4 Urban	China	Full Hybrid	150kW*	$29,990
GWM Haval Jolion	China	Full Hybrid	140kW	$29,990
MG ZS Hybrid+	China	Full Hybrid	155kW	$30,888
Toyota Yaris Cross GX	Japan	Full Hybrid	85kW	$34,652
Honda HR-V e:HEV X	Japan	Full Hybrid	96kW	$39,900
VW T-Roc CityLife	Germany	Petrol Only	110kW	$38,990
Hyundai Kona Hybrid	S. Korea	Full Hybrid	104kW	$39,990

 

The Verdict

• The Chery Bomb: At $29,990, you get double the power of the Toyota for less cash. It is a value bloodbath.
• The Honda Huddle: The HR-V is classy but only has four seats. Great if you only have three friends, or a middle child you want to leave at the curb.
• The VW Flex: Paying nearly $40k for a non-hybrid T-Roc in 2026 feels like buying a typewriter in the age of AI.

More Chery Jaecoo Omoda Stories

• Polestar Sales Soar as Jaecoo Rides with Supercross Star Dylan Wills
• Jaecoo Teams Up with Thule for an Adventure Travel Fun
• Jaecoo J7 PHEV to Hit the Roads in Early 2025
• Chinese Brand Jaecoo Makes Australian Debut with J7 and J5 SUVs
• Chery Slashes Prices on Omoda E5 Electric SUV
• Chery Omoda E5 EV to Start at $42,990. Details here
• Omoda 9, LDV Terron 9, Audi Q5 earn ANCAP five-star safety
• Chery Omoda E5 EV to Arrive Stunningly Equipped

 

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Written by Alan Zurvas

Alan Zurvas is the founder and editor of Gay Car Boys, Australia's leading LGBTQI+ automotive publication. Before launching GCB in 2008, Alan's automotive writing was published in SameSame.com.au and the Star Observer. With over 16 years of hands-on car reviewing experience, Alan brings an honest, irreverent voice to every review — championing value and innovation over brand loyalty.