Chery Picked: Why the UK Car Industry is cooked.
Never mind the super mega Chinese embassy that’s going up and tunneling underneath our capital city, if you want proof that Britain has fallen, here it is: ‘CHERY UK confirms its first partnership, appointing Peter Crouch and Abbey Clancy to support the introduction of the flagship CHERY TIGGO 9 CSH’
Britain isn’t just not what it used to be, the car industry is now deader than a Series 2 Disco driven by a Dodo, as the marketing moves from decades ago are dusted off and reapplied to the new world motoring order.
It’s a small thing, well Crouch isn’t exactly tiny (6 feet 7 inches), but the decision to feature what is perhaps, outside of the Lord and Lady Beckhamsphere, Britain’s most aspirational and photogenic power couple, is very significant indeed. So why are CHERY doing this?
Well according to them, ‘The partnership with the couple highlights family life, focusing on space, comfort and everyday usability within a modern British family’
It also helps that Crouch has a self-depreciating sense of humour and seems like a very affable chap. He is the everyman typical salt of the earth English bloke who has done well for himself and not only that has only gone and charmed a model into marrying and doing a podcast with him.
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Abbey Clancy has previously turned up pretending to be a bass player for a fictional band (The Vauxhalls) promoting the Vauxhall Adam Rocks Air see Free Mag 11. Perfect for a cool single girl. Now she is all grown up with four children, some dogs and a husband, so she’s absolutely perfect to promote the SUV dream.
https://www.freecarmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/free-car-mag-issue-11.pdf
So what do they like about these vehicles? Abbey Clancy said: “It’s luxurious, practical and comfy. It’s a cool car – it’s versatile but still looks great. And, you know, we’ve got a lot of precious cargo that can fit in this car, so it’s perfect for us. I think it’s quite chic but also practical. You know, we’ve got four kids, three dogs, two cats and one big Peter, and we always travel with a lot of baggage, so it’s ideal for us as a family.”
Peter Crouch added: “The massage seats are great! It’s sleek, spacious and futuristic. This is my day-to-day life, really, Abbey sending me out on errands in a nice car.”
Which is exactly what the management want to hear as obviously they are paying for it.
John Zhong, Brand Director of CHERY UK said: “From the outset, we recognised the value in a strategy rooted in authenticity and everyday relevance. ‘Get Carried Away’ reflects the confidence and ease that define TIGGO 9, and working with Peter and Abbey helped us communicate that in a way that feels natural and relatable. It’s about enjoying every journey, no matter how ordinary.”
Gary Lan, CEO of CHERY UK, said: “The CHERY TIGGO 9 CSH represents the very best of what CHERY offers today. It brings together hybrid capability, generous space and a level of comfort and technology that feels effortless to live with. Partnering with Peter and Abbey reflects the way we see the CHERY TIGGO 9 fitting into modern British life – refined, highly specified, and designed around real family needs.”
Clearly Crouch and Clancy are a real family and they will probably be contractually obliged to be seen in a TIGGO 9 in real life and during public engagements. We do of course have to truly believe that they would overlook the stupid name and Chinese origins and choose it over a £90K BMW X7 or a £60K Land Rover Defender.
What they are driving for the purposes of this promotion is a CHERY TIGGO 9 CSH in top-of-the-range Summit trim, so they can listen to ‘The Vauxhalls’ on their Sony music system, heated/ventilated seats with the massage facility that Crouch loves while the whole family can enjoy the panoramic sunroof.
As a matter of interest, the old TIG was developed in Europe (Germany to be precise) so we won’t complain about its latent Chineseness. Plus there is up to 91 miles of electric-only driving and over 650 miles combined range (WLTP) which is of some benefit to the Crouch Clancy’s. The fact that it is priced from £43,105, on the road and that all TIGGOs come with a 7-year/100,000-mile warranty will be of no real consequence to them at all I should imagine, speculating that they have a loan TIGGO.
What’s happening here is the good old fashioned concept of celebrity endorsement. It may be called influencing these days, but it has been going on for a while now with motor cars. Indeed, I will let you into an open secret, Free Car Mag was founded on this ancient practice. For a long while it worked too. As long as manufacturers were prepared to shell out for a celebrity endorsement, or two, our covers were taken care of. You can spot when we ran out of of celeb road and went down into the Rabbit Hole Underground Car Park, where we have lived ever since. https://www.freecarmag.com/digital-magazine
A pity we were not operational in the ‘70s and ‘80s because no one will ever be as cool as Patrick McNee whether he was promoting the terrible Rover Sterling brand and the very American Ford Granada to Americans.
Also, who could forget the wonderful Vauxhall adverts? Not me. These are so Brit positive even though he’s working for General Motors
But I digress, what we have in the old days are basically actors, or comedians doing a well paid job. Indeed, we’ve featured the great Bruce Forsyth doing a sales job for Chrysler
https://www.freecarmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Free-Car-Mag-141.pdf
plus Cannon and Ball shilling for Lada.
The thing is, at the time Ladas were being imported, the production by AutoVaz was very much part of the communist Soviet Union. Except that in December 1991 the Communist regime fell when those great adverts date from ‘91-’92 so quite possibly the comedians were a crucial part of that historical event? Cannon & Ball are in the clear. Others not so much when we fast forward to today and a rabidly Communist regeime that isn’t going anywhere at the moment and currently engaged in digging foundations in East London. Working with any company in China is the same as working with the Chinese state.
We have just updated the original cover to reflect current developments, like the Prime Minister Keef Stalin visiting his Chinese mates…
https://www.freecarmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Free-Car-Mag-Issue-84.pdf
At Free Car Mag we have pictured Benedict Cumberbatch way back in 2020 when we questioned whether it was a good idea to buy Chinese Communist cars. It didn’t matter that the actor was promoting Chinese built MGs for Morris Garages India.
Cumberbatch is interesting because he has been outspoken on human rights and related issues. Indeed in 2015 whilst doing Shakespeare he was described by the Guardian as “Hamlet actor tells London audience to ‘fuck the politicians’ amid criticism of ministers over their handling of the migration crisis.”
We can all get on board with his accurate description of politicians, but if Cumberbatch is concerned by human rights, (in 2021 The Independent interviewed him and the headline was: ‘Joe Biden? I’m going to plead with the guy to shut Guantanamo’), then perhaps promoting cars made in China isn’t a good look. Why do I say that? Well I can refer you back to the original Free Car Mag article, but as recently as 2024 Human Rights Watch produced a comprehensive report: Asleep at the Wheel, Car Companies Complicity in Forced Labour in China. Read it here.
https://www.hrw.org/report/2024/02/01/asleep-wheel/car-companies-complicity-forced-labor-china
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In many ways, any car company based in Europe or elsewhere with connections to China is problematic (just about all of them). In the real world avoiding using, or buying any Chinese related product would be difficult. However, actively promoting a Chinese car is a choice.
China, or at least the Chinese state, rather than the people, are not our friends. Quite why they are allowed to flood the UK car market with vehicles is open to question and quite possibly some tariffs. In Europe they have just replaced tariffs with a minimum price structure which now favours the Chinese anyway.
Please judge for yourself about how you feel the whole Crouch Clancy TIGO advertisement went and let me know if you think they ought to be doing this in the current climate and whether anyone would ever really care.
Plus a behind the scenes…
Going back in time there is a wonderful honesty and no other agenda when it comes to Sir Les Dawson doing his Ford Sapphire advert in 1989. It is just bloody funny and the thing is we all know he’s driving home in his Jag afterwards.
Spike Milligan did his Mini ad for free. For the good of the country. Because it seemed the right thing to do. That’s never going to happen again, simply because Spike Milligan is no longer with us and neither is the British Car industry.
