Chinas Chery Joins "Two Million Club."
Last Friday, a Rely X5 SUV rolled off the assembly lines of Chery Auto in Wuhu, Anhui Province, China. It was Chery’s 2 millionth car and won Chery the coveted membership in China’s “Two Million Club.” According to People’s Daily, Chery is the first non-state owned car maker to produce more than 2 million cars in China. Chery ranks fifth after Shanghai Volkswagen, FAW Volkswagen, Shanghai GM and Guangzhou Honda.
Chery Auto began auto production in 1999, using the licensed chassis of a SEAT Toledo as the underpinnings of their first product. It took the company more than seven years to produce 1 million vehicles in 2007. It took them only two and a half years to double the production.
Chery sold 500,000 cars in 2009. This year, they want to sell 900,000 units by launching 17 new models under its three brands: Chery, Riich and Rely. Most of the sales success is credited to the Chery QQ, a low cost car that put a car within the reach of China’s less fortunate. Friends of automotive trivia will remember Chery as partner of Malcolm Bricklin’s abortive visionary vehicles. Chery decided to export cars on their own and are quite successful in third world countries.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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I'm curious about the photo of the car in front of a "snoberry" something or other. Monster?
How long until it's US-certified, on sale here for $5k, and putting pressure on US Hyundai sales?
The ones I saw in Venezuela were nicely painted, bodywork was straight, but the interior was plastic craptastic. However, they came equipped with everything: power windows/door/locks, aluminium wheels, fog lamps (front and rear) tachometer... But the price was very similar to a Spark, the "real thing". Cinascar (the local distributor, with headquater in Colombia, LOL) sold more than 1K. Then the government said no to imports...
The QQ? It shakes, it rattles, it bottoms out over the slightest undulation, and the build quality is just two notches over terminal and just a notch below half-heartedly assembled. Best thing you can say about it is that with so little mass, you can light up the tires in first and second gear, and build quality isn't quite as woeful as the (Chinese) competition. Hmmm... I have pictures of the QQ here somewhere... maybe a write-up...