China’s Chery Sneaking Into Europe
If you follow our monthly China electric car sales reports, you should recognize the name Chery. It hasn’t been on the level of BYD or BAIC, but it has a relatively good seller in the eQ. The car actually landed on the #3 spot in August.
Okay, maybe the eQ is no Tesla Model 3, but it scored 4,613 sales in August and 19,793 sales in the first 8 months of 2018.
Chery was actually an early mover in the Chinese electric vehicle market, and it seems like it aims to be an early Chinese mover into the European EV market.
“Chery, the largest car exporter in China and first time exhibiter at the 2017 International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt, is now following up on the announcements made in September of last year and is coming to Germany,” Automotive World wrote in September.
Don’t get too excited, though. It’s not a factory. At this stage, Chery is just opening an R&D center, which is expected to employ 30–50 people by the end of next year.
The mid-term goal is to sell new EXEED models in Europe in the 2020s. And, yes, the aim is to focus on electric vehicles. The first EXEED model in Europe is expected to be fully electric.
Oh, and by the way, the EXEED is no eQ.
Naturally, the electric version should really lose that ginormous grille.
So, just as European and American automakers are trying to gain a larger global footprint by selling more cars in China, with a heavier focus on electrics due to policy there, Chinese automakers that are interested in getting more global see electric entrants in Europe as a good avenue outward. “If Chery is to become a truly global brand, we have to go to Europe,” said Chery Chairman Tongyue Yin.
Does Chery have a chance in Europe, and potentially even North America? Many CleanTechnica readers think so, as one of the most common narratives in the community discussions is that Western automakers are moving too slowly into the electric future and Chinese automakers will swoop in and steal their business by more seriously serving customer demand for zero-emission electric vehicles. We’ll see.
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