Tag Archives: Chery

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Leapmotor T03 will be produced in Poland

Chinese car manufacturers are trying in every way to avoid problems with importing electric cars to the European market, and one of the ways is production on European soil. After BYD and Chery decided to produce their cars on European soil, another Chinese company will do the same. Leapmotor has announced that it will assemble its small electric car, the T03, in Poland.

In October 2023, Stellantis formed a joint venture with Leapmotor, where the world’s largest conglomerate will have a 51 percent stake with the rights to export, sell and manufacture Leapmotor electric vehicles outside of China. Stellantis’ factory in Poland will be the place where the T03 will be produced, and production will start in Q2 of this year.

The car will be manufactured using SKD assembly, which is the simplest way to assemble the car. It should be noted that the Fiat 500 and Jeep Avenger are produced in the same factory. Currently, T03 can be bought in France, and the plan is to expand to other European markets.

In 2023, Stellantis bought 20% of Leapmotor for €1.5 billion. It was a good financial injection for the Chinese company, which will improve its sales results in the domestic market, but also expand its business outside of China. Shares of Leapmotor have risen about 22 percent in Hong Kong in 2023, making the company’s market value exceed $5.4 billion. On that occasion, the company’s founder Zhu Jiangming said: “Today it is a great milestone in Leapmotor’s history, and I am thrilled to witness this moment together with Mr. Tavares and his team. We believe in win-win partnerships formed by strong players in the fast-evolving environment. Working with Stellantis, we will continue to be innovative and creative in technology and business synergies and will bring Leapmotor EV cars to the global market.”

Source: Reuters, Photo: CNEV

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Leapmotor T03 will be produced in Poland
News

Chery is considering building a plant in Italy

European manufacturers are still struggling with Chinese car manufacturers, who are trying to conquer the European market in different ways, so the European Union introduced additional tariffs on vehicles from China. However, Chinese companies seem to have a “plan B”, building plants in Europe. After the Chinese car manufacturer BYD announced that it is building its plant in Hungary, another Chinese company (Chery) could follow the same path, but in Italy.

Currently, Stellantis is the only major car manufacturer in Italy and the new Italian government is trying to increase production by introducing another manufacturer, the Chinese company Chery. According to official information, the government is considering offering the Chinese manufacturer to build a plant in Italy, in order to increase the annual production of cars to over one million. Italy currently produces 800,000 cars a year.

Building a plant in Europe would be a good strategic decision that would allow Chinese companies to avoid obstacles when it comes to additional taxes or potential quotas that the EU could impose on vehicles imported from China. Obviously, Italy is the ideal place for that. According to Italian Industry Minister Adolfo Urso, over the past year the government has been talking to several manufacturers, including Tesla. The government’s goal is to increase production by an additional 300,000 cars per year.

Chery is the fifth largest Chinese car manufacturer with 1,881,316 vehicles sold in 2023. In the next two years, the company will launch three new SUV models with different power options, primarily intended for European customers. “Expectations are high and sales in Europe should be high enough to support the construction of the plant,” said Chery Europe Managing Director Jochen Tueting.

Source: Reuters

News

China is the world’s largest car exporter

Japan has been the world’s largest car exporter for decades, but it was only a matter of time before another Asian giant (China) took over that position. This happened in 2023 when, according to official data, China exported one million cars more than Japan.

The development of the automobile industry in China is expanding, primarily fully electric vehicles, which are killing competition worldwide with low production costs and subsidies provided by the Chinese government. This has led large manufacturers to find partners in China or open their own plants, and increase competitiveness in the world market. “If you can’t beat them, join them.”

China has become a big “problem” for most developed countries that are trying to protect their own car manufacturers. Some of them, like the French one, canceled subsidies on new electric cars produced in China, in order to protect domestic manufacturers. This is also expected from other EU members. According to Bloomberg Intelligence, if the other members adopt the same decision, it could threaten the import of electric cars and small commercial vehicles in the amount of almost 7 billion dollars. The fact that in 2023 it exported 5.26 million vehicles, excluding exports to the USA, shows how serious the success of the Chinese industry is. Chinese manufacturers exported the most cars to Russia and Mexico, but also to Europe.

When it comes to the domestic market, sales of fully electric cars increased by 21% while sales of plug-in hybrid cars increased by 83%. The leader is BYD with 3,024,417 vehicles, making this company one of the top 10 largest car manufacturers in the world. The second largest manufacturer was Chery with 1.88 million cars, while the third was Geely with 1.62 million vehicles. Also, in Q4 of last year, BYD surpassed Tesla in terms of sales of battery vehicles.

Source: Reuters