It's no secret that Chinese car brands have managed to undercut most legacy brands on price, helping their sales surge. This has led to off-the-record accusations these prices are only possible thanks to subsidies and other financial assistance from the Chinese government.
Chery is one of the fastest growing Chinese brands in Australia and also one of the most-affordable, offering some of the cheapest new cars on the market today.
This includes the Tiggo 4 Pro, which is priced from just $23,990 drive-away and has already become the best-selling small SUV on the market.
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Is the Chinese government subsidising Cherys?
But any suggestion that these sorts of prices are unsustainable and only possible thanks to government subsidies is quickly dismissed by Chery Australia's Chief Operating Officer Lucas Harris.
" I think if you account for inflation the short answer's, yes, I think it is sustainable," Harris told CarsGuide.
"If you work out and factor inflation on new car prices over the last 15 or 20 years actually, there hasn't really been a huge shift.
"The challenge, I think, that we've got at the moment is inflation's out of control. But I think cars in Australia are still quite affordable generally across the board, particularly if you compare to most countries in Europe.
"Is it sustainable? I think so, yes. You hear all of these accusations around dumping and government subsidies [and] I would love to see some actual evidence. I'd love a [Chinese] government subsidy, it would certainly help us out."
Tech not just low price helping Chery
Instead, Harris said the Chinese brands are attracting Australian buyers not simply on price, but also a significant focus on technology.
" They just want everything to improve and to be better, and there's no sleeping or sitting on their hands and waiting for the next thing," he explained.
"They want to create the next thing. And so there's a huge amount of effort put into trying to understand the customers better and understand what the customers want and push the technology as far as they can. And there's certainly a lot of the reasons you gave before around why people are buying Chinese vehicles, it's not just about the price. I think it's largely driven by technology.
"I think it's fairly fair to say that if you want a car that is on the leading edge of technology, then you buy a Chinese car. The Chinese brands happen to make it more affordable and more attainable than some others."
Big name brands fighting for their lives
In the same interview Harris also hit back at other off-the-record criticism that Chinese car brands are 'dumping' vehicles in Australia.
" I would be reluctant to speak poorly about any other particular brands or countries of origins," Harris said.
"And the only explanation I could think of why someone would want to do that is if they were fighting for their lives, and they knew that they couldn't win in a fair fight."
Unfortunately, the complexity of the Chinese car industry and its integration with various levels of government means only time will tell if Harris is right or if they will follow the same trend as their Japanese and South Korean rivals and increase prices over time.