2021 Chery Tiggo 3X Plus reminds us of the Hyundai Kona

Aside from the Tiggo8 Plus, Chery launched another crossover during this year's Auto China motor show. At the opposite end of the spectrum is the Tiggo 3X Plus, and it's sporting a new look inside and out, along with new hardware under the hood.

The Tiggo 3X Plus effectively replaces the Tiggo2, which is Chery's entry in the subcompact crossover market. While it is a rebody of the current Tiggo2, Chery took a more daring approach for the new small crossover with a bold front end design. If anything, it does remind us of a certain South Korean crossover with its grille and headlight treatment. With its high-set LED daytime running lights and bumper-mounted headlights, you can probably guess which crossover we're talking about.

As for the rest of the car, it comes with all the usual crossover embellishments. There are the roof rails and the unpainted plastic cladding surrounding the entire lower half of the car. The body lines are similar to the Tiggo2, as well as the tailgate and tail lights. It does come with a new rear bumper, along with redesigned wheels to make the car look fresher than before.

Now for the interior, Chery gave it both updates and upgrades. The dashboard and center console are new for 2021. There are fewer angles inside, replaced with gentle curves and lines. Rectangular air-con vents are new for this generation, too. As for the center stack, there's a bigger infotainment screen, now measuring nine inches. Also, the lower half of the stack is oriented towards the driver.

Other changes? The steering wheel is no longer round as Chery fitted a flat-bottom design instead. Also, the instrument cluster has round dials instead of the counter-clockwise needles in the current model. The Tiggo 3X Plus comes now comes equipped with an electronic parking brake, doing away with the traditional handbrake. Door panels on the other hand are carried over from the Tiggo2.

Powering the Tiggo3X Plus is a 1.5-liter engine. It bucks the current trend of downsized turbo engines by sticking to a naturally-aspirated mill. While the specs sound similar to the Tiggo2, there is more power this time around. The unboosted engine makes 116 PS and 143 Nm of torque. That's 10 PS and 8 Nm more than the Tiggo2. Also, Chery got rid of the dual-clutch transmission in favor of a continuously variable transmission.

There is a chance the Tiggo3X Plus landing in the Philippines. After all, it is the successor the Tiggo2, one of the volume models of Chery Philippines. However, don't count on it being launched here this year, and a mid-2021 launch seems more likely.