Chery International President Zhang Guibing has warned many Chinese car companies will disappear, saying roughly 90 per cent are losing money as development costs rise.

Zhang, who is also Executive Vice President of Chery Auto, made the comments during a media Q&A at Chery HQ in Wuhu after being asked how Australian buyers could trust Chinese brands would still exist in five to 10 years.

He did not put a number on how many companies would survive, and his answer did not include a direct reassurance for Australian buyers.

"When you're looking [at] 10 years ago [and] today, you [will] find [the] market [has] already big change[d].
And too many brand[s] already disappeared."

"Most of the Chinese [companies are] in the stock market.
So they will release the[ir] financial reports."

Zhang said those financial reports show about 90 per cent are loss-making.

"The R&D investment, compared to before, is much higher."

"Before, [it was] mainly... the mechanical side.
Now, [there are] too many new technology developments.
So the investment is much higher than before."

"On one side, more and more companies [are] losing money.
On [the other] side, the investment [is] more and more high."

"You can easily forecast.
Too many companies, surely later they will die.
They will disappear."

The comments come as Chery Group broadens its Australian activity, including plans for Exlantix in Australia and ongoing work on the Stockman ute's local tuning program.

No sign of stability yet

Asked whether the car industry would stabilise like the mobile phone sector once technology matured, Zhang said the automotive industry had not yet reached that point.

"I think my feelings [are like the] mobile phone.
Phones, maybe from the traditional one, coming to the digital one, very quickly changed, and [became] stable."

"I think that until now, we still haven't found any [stability], so there are still changes."

"Even for me, I couldn't understand what will be tomorrow's car, the day after tomorrow's car."

"[The] future car is not like this time.
It's maybe like a house."

"You can [talk] with the car, you can basically [talk to it] to do all types of orders."

The remarks underline the scale of change facing Chinese carmakers as technology spending rises and competition continues to pressure profitability.

For Australian buyers, the unanswered part of the exchange is also notable: Zhang addressed the industry-wide pressure, but did not provide a direct buyer assurance about brand longevity.