Latin NCAP Gives China's Chery Tiggo 2 Zero Stars — and Export Markets Are Watching
Latin NCAP's first result of 2026 — and the first under its updated protocols — rates the China-made Chery Tiggo 2 family at zero stars, with adult and child occupant scores of 0% and a fire risk recorded during the frontal test. Coming weeks after Chery's rear-axle recall in Malaysia, the result lands at the centre of the debate about how Chinese exporters handle safety in their fastest-growing markets.
The Result
Latin NCAP published on 28 October its first crash-test result of 2026 — and the first assessed under its updated protocols: the Chery Tiggo 2 / Tiggo 2 Pro / Tiggo 2 Pro Max, built in China and sold across Latin America (as Chirey in Mexico), received zero stars.
The breakdown is stark. Adult occupant protection scored 0%, child occupant protection 0%, pedestrian protection about 49%, and safety assist about 45%. The tested car carried four airbags and ESC as standard, but the frontal test showed an unstable passenger-cell and footwell structure, high chest compression on the driver dummy, and — decisively — a fire risk recorded during the test, which under the protocol caps the adult occupant score at zero. The car offers no side head protection and no driver-assistance systems at all: no autonomous emergency braking, no lane support, no blind-spot detection.
Latin NCAP chairman Stephan Brodziak called it "an appalling result and an affront to consumers," and secretary general Alejandro Furas criticised the manufacturer for offering such a low level of safety in a popular, high-volume segment.
Why It Lands Hard
Latin America is not a side market for Chery — it is one of the brand's biggest export destinations. Chinese media coverage noted that Chery exported over 115,000 vehicles to Central and South America in the first half of 2026 alone, nearly double the year before. A zero-star rating on a core model in exactly that region is a direct hit on the commercial story.
The result also does not arrive in isolation. Earlier this month Chery recalled 8,878 Omoda 5 SUVs in Malaysia after a rear-axle trailing-arm weld failure let an axle detach from a moving vehicle; Malaysia's road transport department suspended the model's type approval pending a technical audit, and Chery publicly apologised. Chinese media are now framing the two episodes together as the compliance test of China's export surge: volumes have grown faster than some manufacturers' safety and quality processes.
What It Means for the Trade
Three read-throughs for anyone in the Chinese vehicle export business:
- Ratings are becoming market access. A zero-star headline travels faster than any marketing campaign, and regulators in export markets read the same reports. Expect importers, financiers and insurers in Latin America to start asking for safety documentation more systematically.
- Model split matters. The Tiggo 2 family is an older design; newer Chinese models routinely score four and five stars in the same programmes. "Chinese car" is no longer a single safety category, and treating it as one — in either direction — is a mistake.
- Used exports are not immune. Safety perception attaches to brands, not to model years. Dealers and exporters handling Chinese brands should expect questions about crash performance and recall history to become part of the standard conversation with overseas buyers.
The Accuracy Note
The zero-star rating, the sub-scores and the fire-risk finding are from Latin NCAP's official result published on 28 October 2026, assessed under its updated protocols. The Malaysia recall figure of 8,878 vehicles and the suspension of type approval are from Malaysian regulatory announcements and Chery's statement of 11 October, as reported by Chinese media. The first-half export figure for Central and South America is as cited by Chinese press from company data. Chery had not published an official response to the Latin NCAP result at the time of writing.
Sources: Latin NCAP official test result, Chery/Chirey Tiggo 2 family (28 October 2026); Sina Finance coverage (29 October 2026); Jiemian and Sichuan media coverage of the Malaysia Omoda 5 recall (11–12 October 2026).
