Emta will put its first car on sale in Japan in 2027, and the small electric model is being aimed straight at the country’s kei-car market and BYD’s incoming Racco. The first vehicle, a boxy K-car with a 3.4-meter body, is still without an official name, but the launch gives the Chery-backed brand a clear date and a clear fight.
That is why the Chery search is spiking now: the brand is not a concept sketch anymore, but a market entry timed for 2027, with a full lineup of four cars planned by the end of 2029. Emta, which sits under Singapore-based Electric Mobility Technologies, has also set out a next-step test that matters beyond the first model — whether a Chinese-linked EV brand can win over Japanese buyers in a segment built on tight dimensions, low prices and familiar local names.
The first model, known for now as Emta #01, appears designed to fit that brief. It carries a #01 inscription on its door and has the look of a five-door variant of the Chery QQ Ice Cream electric city car launched in China in 2021, with blocky headlights, blacked-out pillars, a plain front bumper and unusually small side mirrors. The dimensions are short even by city-car standards: 3.4 meters long and 1.48 meters wide. Emta’s officials say the vehicle has collision safety performance comparable with larger vehicles, and the car will use a battery made by Gotion.
Chery is more than a name on the share register. It holds 27.27% of Electric Mobility Technologies and will act as a tech provider, with Emta cars set to use Chery architecture, electric drive systems and assisted-driving technology. Yet Chery officials also say they are only shareholders and do not take part in daily operation and management, leaving the project’s public face to a Japanese team with backgrounds at Honda and Mazda. The brand’s chief marketing officer is former Nissan China GM Susumu Uchikoshi, while the CEO is He Xiaoqing, formerly president of Changan Ford.
That split matters because the launch is being pitched as a locally tuned Japanese project, even though the ownership and technology base are spread across several companies. Jiangsu Yueda Automobile Group also holds 27.27%, Autobacs Seven and Gotion each hold 18.18%, and Anest holds 9.09%, with Yueda’s Yancheng plant set to build the vehicles. The first Emta model has not yet had its price, trim levels or final specifications revealed, which leaves the biggest commercial question unresolved as BYD prepares to bring in the Racco at around 2.5 million yen, or about $15,670.
Emta has already mapped the rest of its rollout. Three more models are planned for the local market — a hatchback, an SUV and a minivan — and the company says it will consider building a plant in Japan after 2030 if the brand takes hold. For now, though, the real test is narrower and more immediate: whether a 3.4-meter EV carrying Chery technology can break into Japan’s kei-car lane on a timetable set for 2027, before price and specifications are even on the table.
