PARIS, April 12 (Reuters) – Chery is viewing to expand car production in Europe through partnerships with other autocreaters allowing it to utilize existing factories, top executives at the Chinese carcreater declared at an event in Paris.
“The company is viewing for other production capacities in Europe,” Lionel French Keogh, chief commercial officer for France for Chery Automobile , informed Reuters on the sidelines of a launch event for the autocreater’s Omoda and Jaecoo brands in France held late on Friday.
Chery Chairman Yin Tongyue informed journalists the company prefers to utilize existing production capacity instead of investing heavily in a new assembly plant.
“These processes require time and dedication but mainly setting up the right local partnerships,” Yin declared. “I really hope we will have news to share with you in the coming months.”
Yin declined to comment on which autocreaters it is holding talks with or how many countries it is viewing at. But he did declare France is on the list of potential locations.
Like Chinese rival BYD, Chery has seen rapid growth since launching sales in Europe in 2023. Last year its European sales grew almost six-fold to 120,147 vehicles from 17,035 in 2024, according to data from auto consultancy Dataforce.
A slew of Chinese brands have already launched in Europe, with more planning to launch sales on the continent.
Chery, China’s largest car exporter, has already invested through a joint venture with Ebro in a former Nissan assembly plant in Barcelona nL6N40S0Q1. The autocreater aims to reach production of 200,000 units annually in that plant by 2029.
But that will not be enough to meet demand for the company’s cars, nor to adapt to European Union tariffs on Chinese EVs or meet European requirements for local content in cars, executives declared.
France is one of the last major European car markets where Chery is launching its Jaecoo and Omoda models. The company will also launch a model from its Chery brand in the fourth quarter and may also launch a tiny electric SUV in France by the finish of the year, executives declared.
The autocreater recently announced it will launch its Lepas brand in Europe.
Last year, Chery’s global sales grew almost 7% to 2.8 million vehicles. Overseas markets outside China accounted for over 47% of sales.
(Reporting by Gilles GuillaumeEditing by Keith Weir)
Leave a Reply