Chery recalls 53,882 Omoda and Tiggo 5x in China after Malaysia axle failure

Chery Automobile (HKG: 9973) will recall 53,882 Tiggo 5x and Omoda series vehicles in China from November 27, 2026, because their rear axles may have been poorly welded. China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) published the recall filing on November 6. It covers some cars built between June 6, 2022 and December 31, 2023.

SAMR said a manufacturing process problem may have left the weld between each rear axle's trailing arm and its sleeve defective. In extreme cases the weld could fail and separate, causing a loss of wheel control. Chery will inspect the axle production date code free of charge and replace the rear axle on any car from the defective batch, and it will notify owners by text message and registered mail.

The filing comes a month after a 2023 Omoda 5 lost its rear axle and wheels while being driven in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, on October 6. No one was hurt. Malaysia's Road Transport Department (JPJ) suspended the model's vehicle type approval and all new registrations on October 11 and said it would audit the Omoda 5's production and assembly line and its axle supplier.

Chery responded the same day. It said an investigation had found that welds at part of the rear trailing arm on the affected batch may lack sufficient strength, and that models with that structure were already out of production. Its Malaysian unit began recalling 8,878 Omoda 5 SUVs in C and H variants, and the company said it had started precautionary checks on same-batch Omoda 5 cars in China and other markets, promising to publish the results.

In Malaysia, owners can check their VIN on Chery Malaysia's website, and the first shipment of replacement parts has been dispatched for staged delivery to service centres; Chery says models currently on sale are not affected. JPJ has said it will lift the suspension only after all corrective and preventive actions are verified.

The domestic recall is about six times the size of the Malaysian one, and it adds the Tiggo 5x, which was not part of the Malaysian campaign. The SAMR notice does not link the China defect to the Johor Bahru incident directly. Both describe weld problems at the rear axle trailing arm, though, and Chery's Chinese recall arrives 26 days after its pledge to check same-batch cars at home.

It is also not the Omoda 5's first rear axle problem in Malaysia. In April 2024, another Omoda 5's rear axle detached while the car was being driven, and Chery recalled 600 vehicles for inspection. That investigation blamed improperly calibrated rear axle welding equipment and identified 60 cars, all built on August 15, 2023, that needed new axles. As of October 12 reporting, Chery Malaysia had not said whether the October failure involved the same defect.

In China, Chery launched the Omoda in Shenzhen on July 12, 2022, in seven versions priced from 92,900 to 126,900 CNY (c. $13,800 to $18,900), powered by a 1.6-litre turbocharged engine with 145 kW (194 hp) and a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. It has since been withdrawn from the domestic market and is now sold mainly overseas. In Malaysia, Chery replaced it with the Chery O5 in September 2025, which swaps the older car's torsion beam rear suspension for a multi-link setup.

Chery file image of the Omoda; some cars built between June 6, 2022 and December 31, 2023 fall within the China recall (Chery)

Exports are now the core of Chery's business. The group sold about 295,900 vehicles in October, up 1.2% from 292,308 in September and 5.3% from a year earlier. Exports reached 200,618, down 3.5% from September's record 207,814 but up 58.7% year over year, while new energy vehicle sales came to 140,900.

Over the first 10 months of 2026, Chery's exports totaled 1,751,766 vehicles, about 70% of its sales. Its Omoda and Jaecoo export brands said in April 2026 that their combined global sales had passed 1 million vehicles.

Canada comes next. Omoda and Jaecoo, Chery's export-focused brands, plan to launch their first electric SUV in Canada in spring 2027, with a second about three months later and both models due to be revealed on November 10. The plan calls for about a dozen dealers in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia and roughly 6,000 sales in the first year.

The Canadian Omoda Jaecoo website so far promises only new electric SUVs and notes that the models shown are intended for other markets. Chery is also weighing local production in Canada, according to executive vice president Zhang Guibing in a report on October 23. With the Canadian models due to be named next week, how the brand handles questions about the Omoda 5's axle record may shape its first impression with Canadian buyers.

Conversion rate: 1 USD = 6.7168 CNY as of November 6, 2026.