Chery Revives ‘Rely’ Pick-Up Truck Sub-Brand in China

Chery has revived its ‘Rely’ sub-brand, now focusing on pick-up trucks with powertrains ranging from ICE to EV.
(Photo credit: CarNewsChina)

From Jaecoo to Jetour, Chery is known for its numerous sub-brands, but the Wuhu-based marque has yet to settle, as it has just revived one of its many sub-brands in China, Rely. Initially part of its Qilin high-end brand, the newly revived Rely brand will be Chery’s first “global intelligent pickup ecosystem brand,” focusing on pick-up trucks with various powertrain flavours.

An abbreviation for Rebuild, Explore, Link, and Yield, Rely will have four major product lines and 16 product portfolios built based on Chery’s Mars architecture that can accommodate both ICE and hybrid powertrains. As for powertrain, the Rely models will use Chery’s Kunpeng Super Performance Electric Hybrid C-DM powertrain setup, which is the same setup used on some of its plug-in hybrid (PHEV) products.

The Chery KP11 concept shown last year could be the first model under the new Rely brand.

As of now, Chery has yet to unveil any images of the upcoming Rely models, but we’ve been previously shown a new pick-up truck concept at the Chery International User Summit (CIUS) last year. Codenamed KP11, this mysterious pick-up truck concept boasts a very ICE-forward design with familiar Chery styling cues like the dual-stack LED headlights, a massive front grille with Chery typeface, and many more.

In terms of sizing, CarNewsChina reports that the first Rely pick-up truck will be about 5.4 metres long and have a wheelbase of 3.3 metres. This makes it belong to the same midsize pick-up truck segment as the likes of the Ford Ranger, Toyota Hilux, Mitsubishi Triton, and many more.

As we mentioned above, Chery has described Rely as its latest ‘global’ brand, thus making it highly likely to be exported into popular midsize pick-up truck markets like Australia, Thailand, and, to some extent, Malaysia too. Chinese pick-up trucks are experiencing a resurgence in both domestic and export markets recently.

In March 2025 alone, the Chinese automotive market saw more than 58,000 pick-up trucks being sold, a year-on-year increase of 13.1%, bringing the first quarter cumulative sales to 137,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 6.8%. At the same time, a total of 24,000 Chinese pick-up trucks were exported in Q1 2025, marking a year-on-year increase of 20%.

Despite this positive trend, Chery’s Rely entrant into the Chinese pick-up truck space won’t be a walk in the park, as it will face stiff competition against more established brands like GWM and JAC—both of which topped the sales chart for March 2025, with 20,421 and 7,351 units, respectively.