Chery Will Build Them In Brazil

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

After testing the Brazilian waters with imported models, and after having received a passing (-by) grade from our man in Brazil, China’s Chery decided to go whole hog and build Cherys in the land of Samba. Chery has signed an agreement with the municipality of Jacareí, a city in the interior of the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, to set up a car assembly factory in Brazil, reports Macauhub.

The plant will cost them $1m. That’s cheap for a car factory, and it smells like small scaled CKD. Giveaway: Chery wants to sell only 25,000 vehicles in Brazil by 2011. Not enough for full scale production. They have been in Brazil since 2009 . They have 40 dealers so far that sell three models: The Tiggo , the Face and the Cielo ( which Marcelo spotted after a long search.)

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

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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  • TokyoPlumber TokyoPlumber on Sep 15, 2010

    It's hard to believe that Chery could put up a car factory in Brazil for only a million dollars (ie, even a factory for bolting together complete knock down kits). If the dollar value is correct they must have bought an existing facility (ie, perhaps a small warehouse) and are planning to use it to assemble a small fraction of the vehicles they sell in Brazil (ie, perhaps a couple of thousand cars per year).

  • Nishant Sirohi Nishant Sirohi on Sep 15, 2010

    why does this reminds me of the suzuki kizashi why cant chinese make anything original and if i am not wrong isnt this the same company that copied the chevy spark/daewoo matiz

    • Infinitime Infinitime on Sep 15, 2010

      Yup, it looks exactly like a Kiashi... Its got four wheels, four doors, headlights, and oh my god - even a grill! There is only so much variation you can get on a car... notwithstanding the fact that this is a hatchback, and not a sedanl like the Suzuki. It is sad how the peanut gallery blindly accuses Chinese products of being knock-offs, even in cases where there is no basis for such comparisons. I mean, such comments are fair for many of the BYD and Great Wall products, but Chery's designs are very much indigenous.

  • Marcelo de Vasconcellos Marcelo de Vasconcellos on Sep 15, 2010

    I came across this story, too, but it's so full of ifs, buts and ands, i wouldn'it put too much faith in it. To mr Cery's just testing the waters to see if they can get someone to offer them money. You see, we're in the middle of an election and all the pols are otherwise engaged. BTW you can't CKD cars in Brazil, then sell it in the internal market. Mercedes has a white elephant in Brazil that puts together some small numbers of their smallest car. To be sold inBraZil these cars have to be sent to Germany then re-imported. I wager a Chinese factory in Brazil is still at least a year or two away. Seems like Chery is getting bad consultancy if they thin they can enter Brazil that way.

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