Chery Breaks Through 500,000 Globally in 2009

In December 2009, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Chery’s first car rolling off the assembly line, the encouraging news came along: the sales volume of December reached 63,967 units, a new monthly sales record. Total annual sales broke through 500,000 units, ranking No.5 in Chinese passenger car market, becoming sales champion among Chinese independent brands for 11 consecutive years, and ranking No.1 passenger vehicle exporter from China for 7 consecutive years.

2009 was an extraordinary year, in which, Chery continuously enhanced its comprehensive competitive power which promoted the company to another stage. In the year, Chery took full use of the financial crisis to search opportunities to advance itself, starting from R & D, management, marketing to implement the strategy of "brand, quality, service" globally, which promoted Chery’s brand value and helped Chery achieve the change from extensional development to connotative development.

Sales volume is the last word

In the past year, the auto market turned down, and a great number of manufacturers stopped production. Chinese market capacity revealed its advantage, becoming a global focal point. When General Motors, Volkswagen and Toyota consolidated themselves in the forefront of many countries and their sales volumes formed the tripartite situation, Chery achieved a 40.5% sales growth in the world. In the first half of the year, though the market had not warmed up yet, all Chery products reached "blowout-style" growth, which promoted its semi-annual sales volume to 210,000 units by the end of June, and at the same time completed 70% of the annual sales target. In the second half of the year, the monthly sales record was refreshed for 6 times. In December, the sales volume was 63,967 units at home and abroad, which doubled the sales volume in July. Meanwhile, Chery also created an epoch of Chinese independent brands with monthly sales exceeding 60,000 units. The accomplishment in 2009 was a pleasing present for the 10th anniversary of Chery’s first car.

Regarding single product sales, Chery QQ was still the featured products, gaining the top spot with 168,554 units, increasing by 26.4% year on year. A5, A3 and Cowin followed QQ closely with monthly sales of 6,000 units. These three models achieved 198,242 units globally, which contributed 39.6% to the total sales. Another trump card SUV, Tiggo performed steadily in both domestic and overseas markets, with highest monthly sales reaching nearly 7,000 units.

5 events lead to transformation

"Volume and scale are always the key indicators measuring auto enterprises globally, but the two indicators cannot fully reflect the competitiveness of auto companies.” Recently, Mr. Yin Tongyue, Chairman and General Manager of Chery, stated in an interview, "in order to realize overall upgrade of products, technologies, networks and services, Chery should change from a product manufacturer to a technology manufacturer.” 5 landmarks in 2009 indicated the effort & encouragement on the way of transition.

Obtaining China's top state scientific and technological progress award: January 9, 2009, Chery’s "Energy-saving & Environmental-protection Automotive Technology Platform" won the first prize of Chinese National Science and Technology Progress Award. This was the first time that Chery participated in national science and technology awards ceremony, and what’s more, it was also the very first time that Chinese government awarded the highest national technological honor to an auto company in 22 years, so as to encourage Chery’s contribution in the automotive sector which broke the technical barriers dominated by the developed countries, thus laying a solid foundation for the sustainable development of Chinese auto industry.

Completion of multi-brand layout: March 19, 2009, Wuhu, China, Chery Automobile released its high-end passenger car brand Riich and all-round commercial vehicle brand Rely, also announced the establishment of Qilin Sales Company, which is responsible for the two high-end brands. With the release of new brands, Chery Automobile formed the domestic layout consisting of Chery, the high-end brand Riich, commercial vehicle brand Rely and subcompact brand Karry. In 2009, the world leading automakers were seeking ways to protect themselves by cutting expenses, lying off employees, suspending production, or even selling its brands. However, Chery had determined its multi-brand structure and achieved a qualitative leap, which led Chery to rank among the world-class auto enterprises.

Stunning at 2009 Shanghai International Auto Show: April 20, 2009, at the 13th Shanghai International Auto Show, Chery unveiled its 32 new models, delivered a "visual feast" to the global automotive industry and customers, and showed its latest achievements in brand building, technology research, vehicle model development and new energy areas.

Offering gift to the 60th anniversary of PRC: October 1st, 2009, during the 60th anniversary of China's National Day celebration, Chery, as the only representative of independent Chinese auto brands, and Chery G5, as the only representative of independent Chinese car models accepted the review of Chinese state leaders and Chinese people across the country, witnessed and participated in this great moment, and showed China's industrial achievements in the past 10 years to the whole country and the world.

Creating a new era of Chinese auto industry on Nürburgring Road: October 13, 2009, local time in German, at the 88-year-old Nürburgring north loop, which is known as the "Ring of Truth" and the “green Hell", Chery G5 rewrote the unknown history of Chinese auto brands on the world's top track with an remarkable score of 8′56″. Selecting the most difficult track to challenge established automakers’ flagship products, undoubtedly, Chery showed its ambition and determination of “international layout & great technology".

Globalization is not a myth

In fact, in 2007, when the one-millionth car of Chery, Chery A3 came off the production line, Chery entered the implementation phase of “international layout & great technology". Chery A3 is the first true globally strategic model. The Italian master, Pinnifarina provided the body design, the British company Lotus did chassis tuning of the model, both assisting Chery in building a new model of "Global Car, Global R & D, Global Manufacture, Global production ". What’s more, it opened the new era of operating global resources and grabbing global markets.

At present, Chery products have been sold to more than 80 countries and regions around the world, the number of overseas factories built and being built has reached 15, which enables Chery to cover world's most important car markets deeply in the near future, including Asia, Europe, Africa, Central & South America. In 2009, Chery made further exploitation of the Central and South American markets, while made major breakthroughs in EU.

Chery was the very first Chinese auto manufacturer entering South America. In July and August 2009, with the successful establishment of Tiggo’s 55 distribution stores in 14 states of Brazil, Chery launched its Brazilian operation officially; in September, Chery A3 started its international journey by selecting Chile as the first station, which injected new vitality to the Chilean auto market. In addition to product and network, in South America Chery also had further investment and factory building plans. In Central and South America, Chery production and marketing resources had been initially put in place. The sales network was fully open.

In Europe, the number of Chery Tiggo DR exported to Italy achieved 10,000 units in more than one year, which ranked the 2nd place in its segment in local auto market, following Nissan closely. In Romania, Chery takes the initiative in the homologation of European Union, construction and development of distribution networks, exploitation of local market and expansion of Chinese cars in EU, which is not only significant for Chery, but also a landmark for the entire Chinese independent cars.

After 8 years of effort, Chery has already developed a number of steady overseas markets. Now Chery has begun to study the overseas markets deeply to set down positive, proactive and comprehensive strategies. Chery has broken the passive situation and made its globalization steps more confident and steady.

The influence of financial crisis in 2009 still remains, and the year of 2010 has already come quietly. The difficulties and pressures at home and abroad faced by Chery will be full of challenges. At home, the four brands should carry out overall development to make sure that, Chery ranks No.1 among independent brands, keeps the 5th place and strives for the 3rd among all passenger vehicle brands. Abroad, Chery will go out of the shadow of the crisis, win back network and market cultivated over years, compete with Japanese and Korean carmakers, and achieve a qualitative breakthrough & quantum leap in the EU region. We expect that this 10-year-old young Chinese car brand will keep growing and become mature in 2010, and realize all its aspirations!