As with the A3 series, the A3CC was also designed by the famed Pininfarina of Italy. The real reasoning for employing an established design company such as Pininfarina is that Chery plan on selling this car in the European and North American markets where the aesthetic design of a car is paramount. The Chinese coupe market is also a small niche that has not yet been entered, but to enter it fully then Chery had to get the car just right, it had to be fast enough to satisfy the speed requirements, and it had to handle, and above all else it had to be comfortable enough to drive on a daily basis. These factors were probably quite difficult for Chery to achieve, but the biggest issue was the folding solid roof. The folding roof issue lead Chery to delay the project for a whole year, and finally in early 2008 they had the break through that they had been waiting for, and by autumn 2008 the first production test vehicle came off the production line.

In 2009 Chery produced three groups of M14 test cars, each group was made up of 5 cars that were sent out to test a different series of roads. M14 was always a code name but during the testing phase Chery came up with the name ‘A3CC’. The A3CC was aiming for a mid 2010 launch, but due to the roof issue the launch has been delayed to the end of 2010, but with winter not being a great time to launch a soft top car its likely the A3CC will be delayed yet again until early 2011.

The A3CC is a front engined front wheel drive car, which makes up the basic elements of most fun little cars. The exterior of the A3CC is quite striking, and will no doubt be popular where ever it launches. Engines for the A3CC are expected to be a the choice of a naturally aspirated 2.0 and a turbo charged 2.0 model, both will have the options of a 6 speed manual and a 5 speed automatic gearbox. Eventual pricing is rumored to be set at 150,000rmb to 160,000rmb, but it is likely that it will be closer to 200,000rmb due to the roof technology and the novelty of such a vehicle. When the Brilliance Coupe launched the flagship model cost 170,000rmb, so it is likely that the A3CC will be priced higher.

Chery have plans to launch an impressive 17 new models in 2010 spread across their 4 sub brands, the M14 coupe, and Riich G3, Riich G6, as well as Reely X3 and X5 models are set to launch. New versions of Chery’s CVT gearbox are also set to launch later this year which will give Chery a boost in the technological department. The soon to be launched Riich G3 is going to be a compact sedan with the choice of 1.6L, 1.8L and 2.0L CVVT engines

Chery also has 9 new engines for 2010, which are a mixture of diesel and gasoline models, which could mean their supposed European expansion is on course for 2010.

On the new energy front, Chery are planning improve their ISG technology, and also plug in hybrid and pure electric technology, all three are expected to reach the mass production stage.
Chery are planning to invest 240 million RMB in R&D in 2010, whilst 2010 income is expected to reach 5 billion RMB. Chery are still working on their new R&D tech center which will be the largest of its kind in Asia when completed later this year, and will mostly focus on developing and designing ‘tomorrows cars’

Although it is lacking the flagships turbo, what it does have is some fuel saving variable valve technology, and a fairly decent specification which will see it compete fairly well against other Chinese mid size sedans such as the Roewe 550.

The 2.0 engine is from Chery’s own ATECO line up and is also upto Euro5 standard. Chery are hoping to take their Riich models to certain European countries within the next 12 months, so it is vital that they can produce an environmentally friendly car, as well as it being safe and sporty at the same time.

Engines for the X5 at launch are expected to be a mixture of self developed gasoline and diesel engines, Chery are expected to offer a Dakar version of the X5.

Whilst the X5 is not exactly a looker, it could be compared to the first generation Kia Sorento, which also was not a looker but was a fantastic offroader. The X5 is also expected to be quite the competant mud plugger with it being capable of going into 600mm of water, and being able to go up 60% degree slopes.

Apparently this is set to be a future Riich vehicle, and is basically a cut down version of the current Riich M1 mini car. This model works out to be 32cm shorter than its big brother, the Riich M1, and will also carry the same engine such as the 1.3L ATECO engine and also a 1.0L ATECO engine, apparently AMT transmission is also in the works for this car.

A final launch date has not yet been announced, but an airing at the Beijing Auto Show in April is more than likely.

Chery appears to be getting closer to a final production car with a lot of engine and suspension set up from Lotus, and a lot of testing in both the UK and in China.

Chinese media reports say that the M14 is more than likely to make an appearance in 2010, although we have been waiting for this car since 2008. Now the question remains, will it become a Chery, or will it fall into the Riich brand which is now Chery’s own luxury label.

Engines for the car are expected to be a 3.0L V6, and also a 2.0T model that is taken from the Riich G5.

The first model to come down the line is carrying Chery’s home built 2.0T engine. The G5 measures an impressive (LxWxH) 4717/1794/1473 and has a wheel base of 2700mm. Chery is reportedly aiming this car squarely at the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, and Hyundai Sonata with a high class product, but undermining them in price as the above mentioned cars are in the 200,000rmb and rising price segment.

The 2.0T engine from Chery’s ATECO line up is no slouch, it is capable of producing 125kw/170bhp, and 235Nm of torque at 1900rpm. This is Chery’s first turbo engine to make it to production, and it appears to be getting off to a good start judging by the statistics.

Pricing is from 142,800rmb for the 2.0T 6 speed manual, 156,800rmb for the 6 speed manual elite model, and the luxury 5 speed auto will come in at 179.800rmb.

Chery Chairman, Mr. Yin Tong Yue

In a recent interview between auto.sohu and Chery chairman Mr. Yin Tong Yue, Mr Yi expressed that Chery are still resolute on their plans to go it alone and wont sign any JV’s with foreign manufacturers. The interview is very interesting as it gives more information on what goes on behind the scenes at Chery Automobile, and how the company strong man takes on ideas and uses them within the company he has been tasked to manage.

The interview managed to grab headline news across international news sites yesterday, but there doesn’t seem to be an accurate translation of the full interview available, until now:

Auto.sohu (AS): What do you think of the expansion in this years car market?

Yin Tong Yue (YIT): Originally we were pretty optimistic with regards to 2009 sales, but as the government introduced new policies which liberated the market in a certain way. So, nobody really expected the market to hit 13 million cars this year but by end of November we were already at 12.26 million cars and every manufacturer is at full production capacity, the market is really good. The market is developing much faster than what we expected, so first of all we need to thank the government for their support of hte industry, secondly we need to thank low oil prices for making it possible to create such an excellent car market. The Chinese car market did not feel any effects of the economic crisis in 2009, other industries had a difficult time whilst the car market is just on fire.

AS: Many believe that the market this year is all thanks to the supportive policies of the government, but the most important aspect is that market demands have been liberated, what do you think of this?

YIT: I believe that car buyers have reached the consuming age, the car industry has reached the R direct calculation (R值的计算) age, previously only 70’s Japanese cars, and 80’s Korean cars reached this stage, Chinese are around 30 years late into this game.  (We think he is referring to the stage at which personal buyers started buying cars for family use)

AS: Now the industry has a lot of speculation, how long do you think the Chinese car industry can continue to develop at such a high speed?

YIT: After growth, there will always be a fall, the country does not allow for continued explosive growth like we have seen this year. One reason is due to the traffic situation, another is oil consumption, and another is the environment. Perhaps the government will restrict the development of large displacement traditional cars, perhaps we will see a new round of automotive policies from the central government with regards to high oil prices, and the registration of vehicles within city limits.

But the basic demands of our country are great, we have many cities, we also have small towns and villages, these are large markets. Farmers incomes are increasing, in recent years national policies have been favorable towards villages, which has increased farmers needs. Another issue is that the quality of roads in rural areas is improving all the times, which gives us yet another market to enter.

AS: With market growth so large this year, what kind of effect has it had on Chinese self developed vehicles, will we see any changes, and what kind of chances or risks are self developed vehicle companies facing?

YIT: This type of fast paced market expansion is good for domestic Chinese brands, its a great chance, the market is big and encompasses first tier to second and third tier and even fourth tier cities. Each tier is different, they have different expectations and needs of each brand and product, basically the market is huge.

A problem that domestic brands face is that the market is too good, other manufacturers might rush into expanding production to meet initial needs, but then overlook R&D. Because of the competition, we need to rely on our brands, which in turn rely on technology. Many companies are now ignoring their R&D requirements, and aren’t investing enough in their brands, they chase factory expansion and adding new factories, as soon as the market stumbles they will hit a major bump in the road.

AS: Speaking of brand building, this biggest event for Chery this year was launching four new brands, now after half a year after their release, have the models for each brand been succesfully launched?

YIT: Building a brand takes a long time, and it is difficult. This year Chery split the market into different brands, and gave each brand its own segment to compete in, this way the brands are much clearer, and the Chery brand isnt dilluted across many different segments. To many other countries, China is not just a country, its a world in itself with a massive population, with a huge economy that increases with great pace, the needs of our consumers vary a great deall and thus have different requirements and expectations from each brand, so we introduced the new sub brands.

The launch of the brands went better than we expected, using this method to position our brands we’re able to divide the market clearly, and our branding is much easier to understand.

The Riich line up is pretty much stable now, we’re aiming for sales of 8000 units this month (December) however, we know that January 2010 will easily clear 10,000 units.The Karry brand, as it is for a mini vehicle range, is expected to sell 7,000 to 8,000 units this month, in January we also expect it to sell over 10,000 cars. As the Chery brand has been around for a long time it sells the best, this month we expect sales of 43,000 units in China, but including international sales we can expect 67-68,000 sales this month, but January we will sell 70,000 units.

AS: With 2010 practically upon us, and after so much brand restructuring this year, and we will be entering a year of stable development in the car industry, what can we expect from Chery?

YIT: We should say that Chinese brands are two types, the first type is joint venture brands and these are more numorous in China especially with premium brands, self developed brands have come from having a zero percent market share to about 30%, joint ventures account for about 70% of the market. Self developed vehicles have improved a lot, we hope that our Riich brand can enter the global market and become a global player alongside global competitors, we also manage Riich like it is a global company.
Take for example our Riich X5, on Jan 1st it will take part in the Dakar rally, eveyrbody knows this is a difficult race. This year our Riich G5 went on the Nürburgring and did a lap in 8 minutes 56 seconds. Compared to other cars that have been around the ‘ring, this is a great result, that track is 23km long and has 177 hard corners, which puts a lot of stress on the platform, brakes, and handling. Now Riich is ready to become a global player, we’re ready to cast of the low price tag and compete on quality, value, technology, and branding. Chery has around 6000 engineers working in our R&D department, we apply for nearly 2000 patents per year, we’re working hard on traditional automotive technology and also new energy source cars.

AS: Whilst we’re talking about brand expansion, can we understand that Chery is looking for larger numbers, has Chery raised the bar or are you looking at other changes?

YIT: Chery was started in 1997, we went down a different road from other car companies, we’re always different from others. Other people are looking for joint ventures, but we’re determined to go down the road of self development, at the time many people said that this plan was impossible and making cars requires scope, when others were aiming to build 300,000 cars at that time were just aiming for a few thousand.
Secondly, at that time how could we do R&D? To do R&D you need to sell hundreds of thousands of cars, we didn’t follow the road here, eventually we did receive government approval to start building cars. By 2008, we had plans to build one million cars per year, but we knew it wasn’t wise to do this, we worked on our QQ and Fulwin models to enter the market, eventually we controlled our own rhythm. We need to work more on our brands, our research, and undergo some globalization. We need to control our models, and the speed at which they hit the market, and to control our development, whilst speeding up our internal internationalization.

2007 and 2008 were slow years for us, in fact, we lost a little bit of market share. 2007 sales were at 380,000, 2008 sales were at 350,6000 many people were saying Chery were no good, in fact we are on our road now, we think that this is the best way, so we launched new brands. Previously we would average sales of around 30,000 units per month, now we averaging 70,000 units per month, we should say that in China, the self developed brands are the strongest.

So, car market competitiveness isnt just about speed, and not only is it about scope, the most important is to have your own ability. Countries are the same, countries dont care about size, take Israel for example, it is small, but powerful. I hope that the car industry can become more powerful, as long as you have this power, then your brand can become stronger.

AS: What is your R&D like, where would you consider yourself against other companies?

YIT: As I mentioned earlier, we have around 6000 R&D staff and engineers, many of them have studied abroad, and we also have some foreign engineers working for us. China is hot right now, other countries are just a sea of financial difficulty, so we have a lot of talent to choose from, such as foreign companies, we can use the worlds best resources, and they are cheap too because they are doing badly overseas, finding a job is difficult but they are willing to join us. Some of our engineers are learning German, because we have a lot of German engineers now.

AS: Many people might call into question Chery’s brand strategy, some people are also wondering when Chinese cars will break into the premium segment, is it becoming fashionable to compare Chery to multinationals?

YIT: Chery has always been like this; if we say we will do something, and everyone agrees, then we wont do it. From the start of something we always receive criticism. So when everyone was chasing JV’s, we went down our self development route, when everyone was into R&D, we were into branding, building our brands and carrying out market because R&D is a tangible object, when you have enough tangible objects you can start work on virtual objects such as marketing.

AS: I saw last months Peoples Daily Newspaper had article about the rough drafts for speeches that you have made entitled ‘Early to modify, early to act upon‘ You carried out some modifications in your brand structure, and product structure, have you seen any gains since then?

YIT: Actually, competition is only half the issue, one part is differentation, another part is to lead the crowd by half a step. So we previously put more money into R&D, into self development, so our technology was higher than everyone elses at an earlier stage, when everyone was working on injection systems, we were working on multi stage combustion engines. When everyone was working on manual gearboxes, we were working on our own automatic gearboxes, we’ve broken a lot stereotypes, we’re working to tell our consumers about our technological break throughs, we want to raise our quality and our organisation.

We dont want to fight in a price war anymore, we want to take our products into the JV arena, 70% of the market is foreign brands, we want to compete in the 100,000rmb to 150,000rmb sector, and even higher price brackets. The facts prove it, all you need is a really good product and the market will accept it, so on this aspect we feel that branding is difficult, however it is not as mysterious as we thought.

China has been through 30 years of development, in the end we are talking about resources, material processing, to prices wars, development over the next 30 years should rely on technology, on our brands, and on the quality of our products to amplify our competitiveness.

AS: Which of Chery’s brands are capable of taking on the joint ventures?

YIT: Of course our products are improving with every generation, take for example our Chery A3. We used global cars as a benchmark for the A3, at 4.3m long the car is small, but upto five star design standards, it looks great, and the market has accepted it in a fantastic way. Buyers arent in the impression that self developed Chinese vehicles are low price goods, actually consumers are smart, they have the ability to think for themselves. And then there is the recently launched Fulwin2 which is greater than our expectations, we sold around 10,000 since its launch, this month we’ve sold about 6000 of them, its accounting for about 20% of our sales so far. Next month we will sell around 10,000 of them.

AS: Chery is very active all over China now, in October you opened a factory in Dalian.

YIT: Thats right.This year Chery is looking for sales of around 500,000 units, plus we’re exporting a lot more now, last year we accounted for about half the sales in China for self developed cars, this year there is no doubt we will be first again, however we want to improve the sales ratio! Now we have 16 overseas factories, with full car exports to over 70 countries and territories, which are either imported or assembled in their respective sales countries. Chery is based on teh Changjiang river, but there are many bridges that boats cant go down, so it makes our products go by road which makes the cost higher, our Dalian factory is close to a beautiful port where boats of upto 60,000tones to 100,000 tones can stop and load. We’ve turned the Dalian factory into our export factory, anything made there will be sent overseas. China is now a large market, and the worlds largest product maker and soon to be the worlds largest exporter, we hope that Dalian will become part of our export net, and will help us enter the global market. We also have a factory in Kaifeng in Henan province where there is a large market in inland China but a relatively low car producing market.

AS: What other plans do you have for China?
YIT: First we will deal with Henan and Dalian, but our home will always be in Wuhu.

AS: You just mentioned the overseas market, and you plan to have 16 foreign factories.
YIT: Some of these factories are what we partially have stocks in, others were have controlling stocks. We give our partners conditions before starting collobaration, because each market is a different situation, we dont just hope to sell cars, we want to introduce the car building industry into each country and take some employment oppertunities.

AS: We’ve heard you’ve bought a Fiat factory in Italy.
YIT: Thats just a rumor, rumors about Chery are many, they told us that we’ve bought a Fiat factory in Sciliy, we don’t have this problem, what the media reports is funny.

AS: You just mentioned the rumors about Chery, such as you’re always looking for a JV partner, are you looking out for a JV partner?

YIT: Previously we’ve thought about buying an established European brand, and also thought about working with foreign companies, JVs, and giving our staff training etc. In the end we discovered that we can do most of this ourself, Chinese have never been able to consume foreign companies without great difficulties, there is great risk involved two. First are priorities are safety, the second is development, so we are not as brave as some other Chinese companies, so you could say we’re a bit more conservative.

AS: Does this not mean that Chery will just be a little bit slower than the rest when it comes to foreign mergers?

YIT: On the basis of principle we refuse to merge. Many people have come to us to sell us over exaggerated cases, investment banks come too, the problem with these banks, is that you get married to them one day, the next day you divorce, this is what investors do, so we refuse them, we wont be cheated.

AS: Could you tell us about your plans for 2010?
YIT: In 2010 we think that sales will still be good, the first quarter will good, the second quarter wont be so bad, but the third and fourth are hard to predict so early in the year. We are also worried that the price of oil will shoot up again, a slight rise in international oil prices has a massive effect on the Chinese market, as soon as it rises, we feel the pressure. Next year we hope that we can continue to grow, this years new products are many with 13 new cars launches and 10 more in the pipelines. The international market is likely to pick up once again, of course this year is not totally over yet and we haven’t had our directors meeting to authorise the launch of new cars, exactly how many cars we will launch we dont know yet.

The news, which was first reported in La Republica newspaper, revealead that Chery are setting themselves up for a major Western European offensive by buying Termini Imerese, a major Fiat production base that is likely to close in the near future.

Later reports have quoted the Chery Chairman, Mr. Yi, as saying “There is no plan of such a sort“, which has left both foreign and media reports unsure as to what exactly is happening. Chery do have small dealings with the Italian car company DR, which sees the Chery Tiggo SUV and Riich M1 hatchback being sold in Italy under the DR brand.

Chery will have 15 oveseas factories by the end of 2009, with the completion of factories which Chery has built with local partners in Argentina, Russia, and Uruguay. Chery is also expected to invest heavily in the Turkish market with a new factory, which could also see models exported into Europe.

The pictures clearly show that the QQ3 Electric (QQ3E) has had its tail pipe removed, and a charging port installed instead, the gearstick is the type that is usually utilised on small electric cars with only drive, reverse, and neutral being available.

The Chinese press are expecting the QQ3 Electric to cost around 50,000rmb when launched, however it could be that the Chery M1 electric hatch will be launched first, the M1 is the first pure electric hatch that Chery will launch and will be placed higher than the QQ3 electric in the Chery line up.

Batteries for the QQ3E are located in the former engine bay, which has apparently been crash tested by Chery, it is believed that Chery are thinking of installing batteries along the underside of the car as well to improve range. The QQ3E has already received a production license from the government, although a launch date has not yet been announced, nor has a price.

The front end seems to have undergone a massive change, but the side and rear look to be the same.

Power is expected to come from a 1.0L engine delivering 80Nm of torque to the front wheels.

Price wise, the QQ3 is still expected to be one of the cheapest model in the Chery line up and will probably retail in the 20,000rmb to 50,000rmb range. A firm launch date has not yet been announced, but you can expect this baby to be on show in Guangzhou this month.

Chery F11 - Chery goes more premium

Chery obviously don’t have enough on their plate with their automotive brands which currently consist of Chery, Karry, Riich and Reely, they plan on adding yet another to their portfolio of sub brands.

The new super brand is going to be named Xuan Yuan (轩辕) and takes the name of a man in early Chinese history that managed to build a car using differential gears to power itself somehow.

The assistant to the Chery chairman, Mr. Jin Yi Bo, was quoted as saying “Xuan Yuan is going to be Chery’s flagship premium brand, we are going to aim it at the premium luxury segment, the branding and associated icons have been formally registered with the authorities. We are currently assembling the car line up now.” The exact date for launching the new brand has not yet been released, but it is expected to be released as soon as the Riich and Reely brands have been successfully launched.

Two years ago, pictures of a high end Chery F11 were leaked to to the internet, the F11 was expected to make the use of Chery’s own V6 and V8 engines which ranged from 3.0L to 4.2L which were expected to be used for VIP’s and state use. The F11 is expected to make it into the Xuan Yuan fold

Chery and Greatwall seem to have taken the advice well, and are planning to enter their own teams into the 2010 Dakar Rally. Chery are reportedly preparing their flagship Reely X5 SUV for the race, whilst Greatwall are race preparing their top selling Greatwall Hover SUV.

Chery have prepared their X5 well, with it being able to traverse water obstacles at a depth of over 600mm deep, and being able to climb hills at a gradient of over 60%.

The QQ3 start at 30,800rmb for the most basic 800cc manual, steel wheeled affair, and rises to the giddy heights of 50,800rmb for the 1.1 luxury model with the sequential manual gearbox.

Although the above spy shot only shows a partial view of the new QQ3, it seems that with the current sales rate for the QQ, a newer face might just push sales even higher. The new QQ3 is due to be launched towards the end of the year.

Fast forward a decade, Chery are one of the biggest independent car makers in China with a vast array (some say too vast) of cars that they offer, they’ve also just set up their own sub brands (Reely, Riich and Karry) which will offer their own ‘premium vehicles.

The Fulwin2 is a world away from the stuffy Toldeo based first generation Fulwin. It’s more rounded, its a more petite offering, it’s basically a whole new car. The Fulwin2 was launched last night in Suzhou city, along with its pricing which will see it go against the Brilliance FRV, and other popular sub 80,000rmb hatchbacks.

The Fulwin2 is priced as following:

• Base model – 52,800rmb
• Standard – 56,800rmb
• Luxury – 59,800rmb
• Aristocracy – 61,800rmb

At the moment, the Fulwin2 is based on a 1.5L engine mated to a 5 speed manual, an automatic version is due to be launched in the next few months.

Chery have apparently built the Fulwin2 around Chery’s own “Four S Principle’ which is

1. Safety (built to 4 star crash protection, and built with same safety specs as other higher end Chery cars)
2. Sporty (1.5L ATECO engine, and also the overall design of the interior and exterior)
3. Science (again, the engine with its fuel saving abilities. Also low level of interior noise)
4. Space – The Fulwin2 has a wheelbase of 2527mm and boasts a storage space of 450 litres, which can be extended to 1000L.

The Chery Fulwin2 is the latest small hatchback to roll out of Wuhu, and is up against some tough competition in a market that is already read hot. Competition not only comes from other domestic products, but also from foreign cars such as the Ford Fiesta, Mazda2, Chevrolet Aveo, and Hyundai Accent. Lets not forget that Chery also has some slight market overlap here with the Chery A3, and Chery A1 both of which are in a similar price bracket.

The G5 was put through its paces at the ring yesterday under the guidance of a currently unnamed Lotus driver, however a final time for the G5 wont be announced until later tonight, in the meantime check out these pictures:

The G5 that was put around the track looks to be a fairly standard model from the outside, the only cosmetic changes appear to be the black racing alloys (and tires), roll cage, race specification seats, and the three point steering wheel. The gearbox is reportedly the original 6 speed gearbox from Chery, the engine is likely to be a tuned version of the original 2.0 turbo engine which translates into 170bhp, and 235Nm of torque at 1900rpm in standard guise, but who knows what Lotus might have done to the car to get it to ‘Ring spec.

We’re waiting for the lap time, and we’ll post it as soon as we hear.

The Chery sub brand, Riich, is set to launch its first mid size sedan in November this year. The Riich G5 is Chery’s first entry into the premium segment with their own self developed sedan, however, the Riich G5 will be launching first of all with a 5 speed manual gearbox which might not help it sales wise until an automatic version is launched. Usually most premium cars launch with an automatic gearbox, and then launch their manual version.

The Riich G5, despite its branding, is actually a very well built car judging on what we saw at the Shanghai Auto Show this year. The G5 will be launching with a 2.0 Turbo powered engine which translates into 170bhp, and 235Nm of torque at 1900rpm. A naturally aspirated 2.0L version will also be launched with power peaking at 104kw at 5800rpm and a max torque of 186Nm. The engine is from Chery’s own ATECO range, as is the 6 speed manual gearbox.

The Riich G5 will also come with a DVD-GPS navigation system as standard, as well as parking sensors, blue tooth intergration and keyless entry.

Pricing for the Riich G5 has not yet been announced, but it is expected to cost around 150,000rmb when launched.

The factory is the product of a 4.7 billion RMB investment in the Dalian special trade zone and is also built on reclaimed land. Dalian City recently listed the automobile industry as a pillar of economic growth for the regional economy, and has done well to secure Chery’s investment, car parts manufacturers are expected to make the move to Dalian over the coming months as Chery gears up for production in June 2011.

The car plant is based over 20,000 square meters and will be able to produce 200,000 cars per year for both domestic and export sales. Chery currently has 11 plants around the world, but all of the Chinese factories are based around Wuhu, Chery’s hometown in the southern province of Anhui.

Update:Corrected various errors, thanks to the man with the amazing eyes, Dogtucker.

The Fulwin2 is going to be sold alongside Chery’s other compact model, the excellent Chery A3, why exactly we cant figure out just yet.

Internal competition aside, the Fulwin2 hatchback does look rather smart. It does have hints of the BMW 1 series around the rear, but the front end looks very modern and interesting. The Fulwin will be powered by a 1.5l ATECO engine, and will be positioned below the Chery A3 hatch/sedan series.

The M14 is China’s first hard top cabriolet and was first shown to  the crowds at the Beijing Auto Show in 2006, with rumors of a 2.0L Turbo engine finding its way into the FWD platform. But sometime in 2007, the M14 dissappeared from the radar and was replaced by the Chery A6CC concept car instead. Except the M14 was spotted last week yet again:

The M14’s exterior still looks fantastic, but that drab gray interior isn’t going to excite anyone anytime soon. Perhaps its better that the M14 gets shelved in favor of the A6CC anyway!

Whilst Riich is Chery’s upmarket brand, Reely will be Chery’s MPV/Business brand that will see a range of MPV’s and other ‘business vehicles’ being launched under it over the next six months. The first vehicle to be launched by Reely is the Reely V5. You might recognise the Reely V5 as basically the old Chery V5 7 seater station wagon, but it has undergone some slight rhinoplasty and has also been given a nice new diesel engine.

The latest diesel engine from Chery, a 1.9 TDDI high compression diesel engine will find its way into the Reely V5 alongside 1.8, 2.0L gasoline engines with 5 speed manual and 4 speed automatic gearboxes being available for consumers.

The V5’s pricing is set rather low with the cheapest starting at 100,980rmb, rising to 140,980rmb for the top model.

Chery also revealed that their new Reely brand is actually an acronym rather than a random word they picked out of the dictionary and mangled up to be cool and down with the kids, Reely actually stands for Reliable, Economic, Leading, and Young, Chery do seem to be missing an E somewhere though.

A few days ago, the Wall Street Journal’s ace auto journalist in China, Nori Shirouzu, reported that Beijing Auto has recruited away Chery’s current Chief of R&D.

While this news, in and of itself, is certainly no cause for alarm, it seems to be part of a larger trend that may portend difficulties for Chery. According to several well-placed insiders with whom I have recently spoken in China, Chery may be having a bit of a problem hanging on to its talent.

The R&D Chief who has recently left, Gu Lei, brought with him to Chery 11 years of experience at Ford Motor Co. Mr. Gu’s predecessor was also highly sought after to run Chery’s R&D, but he departed for academia after only three years — and several very successful model launches, I might add.

Some of the discontent — and this is only speculation — may be arising from Chery’s ambitious launch schedule. The company has announced that it would launch an astounding 15 new models this year — a schedule that, at this point, no longer looks possible, but which nevertheless may work Chery’s people to death as they attempt to achieve it.

One Chery insider, who also recently came from a foreign producer, confessed to me that he no longer has weekends off since he joined the company. While he’s excited to be working for a domestic automaker, he wasn’t certain how long he could keep up the pace.

A JAC executive was interviewed by the Daily Economic News (每日经济新闻) and was quoted as saying that both car companies have been thinking of merging together since 2002 but due to company history, and cultural differences nothing became of the plans at such an early stage. As the plan has come back to the front of the stage again, the Anhui provincial government (the owner of both companies) is pushing for them to join together but a plan of action has not yet been drafted.

Chery recently sold 20% of its stock to Chinese investment companies, which netted the company over 2 billion RMB in cash which it intends to spend on merging with JAC and R&D. Chery hopes that a JAC merger will give it a greater advantage in the Chinese marketplace.

One thing is for sure, Chery are probably smarting that they didnt go after any foreign assets in 2009 and have since lost out to their regional arch enemies, Geely, in the quest to become the No. 1 Chinese upstart automaker.

Although from what we hear, the QQme is probably Chery’s best built car to date, with a excellently designed and executed interior that puts the driver at the centre of the action. We’d like to think our informants are insane.

The automatic version of the QQme is expected to launch later this year, and is expected to cost around 68-70,000rmb, if anyone (like anyone would) want one.

From the Globe and Mail:

Malcolm Bricklin, the entrepreneur who brought the Yugo car to the United States in the 1980s, said he has lined up the first six dealers to sell Chinese cars in America beginning in 2007.Bricklin, who plans to sell 250,000 vehicles in the first year, outlined to the dealers last week his plan to offer high-quality Chinese vehicles that “redefine the price of luxury.”China’s Chery Automobile Co., which will make the cars, has been accused of pirating a compact car sold in China by General Motors Corp. known as the Chevrolet Spark. But Bricklin said the cars they will make for him will offer quality as good as Toyota Motor Corp.’s Lexus luxury brand.According to the plan, the China-built vehicles sold on the U.S. market will cost about 30 per cent less than comparable cars.”We talked to our first six [dealers] last week, and our first six said ‘yes,’ ” Bricklin said during a speech to the Society of Automotive Analysts in Southfield, outside Detroit.The dealers have agreed to put $2-million (U.S.) in escrow to invest in Bricklin’s company, Visionary Vehicles LLC, and in a Chery factory in China that will build the cars for the U.S. market, said Pierre Gagnon, president and chief operating officer of North American sales and distribution for Visionary.

So if the Chery G6 is considered a luxury car and is set to cost around 200,000rmb or $30,000usd when launched what other luxury cars can you get for the same price in the USA? Well the Hyundai Genesis costs a mere $32,000USD for the base model, a base BMW 3 series is also in the low thirty range, basically what we’re trying to say is that the Chery G6 is going to have to be ultra luxury to take on the bargain basement models from the already existing premium brands. Either Bricklin is insane, or Chery are for going through with this.

The merger is likely to happen by the end of the year, and will make for quite a force in the Chinese automotive market. Chery was set up by the Wuhu local government to provide jobs in the area, and JAC was set up under similar circumstances. JAC set up a JV with Hyundai to build MPV’s for the Chinese market, which has served them well so far. During 2008, JAC’s sales fell due to a weakened demand in the MPV sector, but the introduction of a small car range has given JAC the boost it needs to continue growing. Chery have become very good at making small hatchback cars, and plan on moving into the premium and compact segment with the launch of several new cars later this year. The two companies product line up does overlap, especially as Chery are planning to get into the JAC stronghold of MPV production.

Da-An Motors will give Anhui the production base it needs to garner the much competed title of ‘The Chinese Detroit’ with a large sea port quite close by, as well as being surrounded by suppliers, it could be that Anhui takes the crown from Chongqing.

Dalian will soon be getting 100 Chery A5 BSG Hybrid taxi cabs which will be in service before the end of the year. Chery has also delivered 150 A5 BSG model taxi’s to the Wuhu City Government for use as taxi cabs, where as BYD have only received 30 orders from their local Shenzhen city government but on the other hand they will have ‘green’ bus orders totalling 1000 units very soon.

The Chery A5 BSG Hybrid is priced at an impressive 74,800RMB or just over 10,000USD, which in China is half the price of a Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid and even the BYD F3DM.

The JV has come to an end due to Fiat signing up with Guangzhou Auto and planning to invest 500 million USD into the Chinese market, so it could be that Fiat do intend on producing the Alfa range, albeit with Guangzhou Auto instead of Chery.

It could be that Fiat is more pre-occupied with its recent purchase of Chrysler, and also its Guangzhou plans to pursue another JV at the moment. The previous plan, from 2007, was to create a fifty-fifty joint venture in Anhui province which would have theoretically been able to produce 175,000 cars per year.

Despite the odd brand name it has been stuck under the G6 is an excellent looking car, and with an interior that appears to be able to rival the Koreans, and the Japanese automotive offerings. The G6 is expected to launch later this year with a 2.0T and 3.0T engine offerings.

The 1.0 Riich M1 hatchback has already been launched, an automatic version will launch later this year in October. The Riich G5 is also expected to launch in October. The Rely X1 and X5 SUV’s are going to launch either at the end of 2009, or early 2010.

The proposed 200,000rmb price range of the Riich G6 would make the G6 one of the most expensive cars that Chery has ever produced, do they have what it takes to compete with the other 200,000rmb price range cars, such as the old favourites like the Mazda6, the VW Passat, and the current Mondeo?

The updates are largely to the front and rear lighting assemblies, which have made the A5 look more rounded and less harsh than its current boxy guise.

According to our sources, the A5’s structure has been slightly altered as well, with Chery hoping to achieve a minimum of 4 stars in a future C-NCAP crash test.

A person familar with the talks between JAC and Chery was quoted in an auto.qq.com article as saying ‘The first step is uniting, the second step is merging, but this will happen slowly.’

Earlier today, JAC put out a notice to shareholders that JAC and Chery do intend on merging, and it is only a matter of time rather than opposition to the deal that is making the process so long and drawn out.

A united JAC/Chery team would make the the future company, reportedly, An Da Motors, the largest car maker in Anhui province. The goal of Anhui’s leaders is to turn Anhui into a major automotive production, and R&D center, with its close proximity to Shanghai port and thousands of suppliers within close reach, Anhui does have the possibility of becoming the coveted ‘Chinese Detroit‘.

Chery have launched a four wheel drive version of their popular Chery Tiggo SUV, the AWD version will start at an impressive 100,580rmb for the 2.0L SUV mated to a 4 speed semi automatic gearbox.

Although not a true offroader, the AWD Tiggo3 will open a market niche for compact AWD SUV’s in the chinese market place. Currently, Greatwall’s Hover is the closest competitor to the Tiggo, but competition has already arrived in the form of the Hover H3 which is essentially a slightly shortened regular Hover with a 2.0L engine, it’s currently unclear if Great Wall have plans to drop an autobox into their Hover (they have been saying for close to three years that this is in the works) but nothing has come to pass as of yet.

The Tiggo3 AWD version will come with a ITM intelligent torque system to divide the power between the front and back wheels and will also have an Eaton rear diff for offroad use.

The Tiggo has always been a popular compact SUV, and has largely been unrivaled in the Chinese car market but it is aging now and new competitors are coming at this particular segment quite often now. Another upcoming competitor for the Tiggo3 is the Zotye SUV, which will be paired to a Nissan CVT gearbox in the near future.

We’re not quite sure if being pushed together by the government is considered natural or not, but a JAC and Chery merger maybe on the table in 2009. The Ministry of Industry is already talking with the two parties regarding a merger, which may lead to Anhui becoming the ‘automotive powerhouse’ of China, and perhaps even taking the coveted ‘Detroit of China’ status away from Chongqing.

It is not expected for Chery and JAC to merge straight away, as both parties need time to assess their assets and show what they will each bring to the table.

JAC is a major MPV maker, but with MPV sales stumbling they have been forced out into sedan and small car production, where they have had some success with their super mini range. Chery on the other hand, have a great deal of cars, many of which compete against each other and overlap in segments. Chery’s branding is also rather odd, with them having Riich and Rely, JAC on the other hand have only the JAC brand, which is working rather well for them.

Chery’s JV with foreign companies have reportedly stalled, including the Fiat and Chrylser JV.

Rely X5
The Riich X5 is an SUV, perhaps BMW will be slightly upset with the name, but what’s under the hood is of interest to us. The X5 will be powered by a Chery ATECO 2.0 Turbo assisted diesel engine.

The self developed engine can churn out 125kw of power at 5500rpm, and 235Nm of torque. The engine will be mated to a 5 speed manual, and a future 6 speed manual. As the full car weighs a mighty 1900kg, it’s unlikely that Chery will be able to mate an automatic to the car anytime soon. Perhaps some weight refinement is in order! Safety specs include ABS/EBD and 4 airbags.

CCT visited this car at the Shanghai Auto Show, it is a very large SUV measuring (LxWxH) 4697/1878/1836mm, the front end is certainly different, but the sides and rear of the X5 are quite nice.

For more of Chery’s 2009 launches, click continue reading!

Chery Cloudwind Hatch
We’re not quite sure what Chery’s hatch strategy is, they already have the excellent Chery A3 hatch, so why do they need to add yet another compact hatch to the line up? Either way, the Cloudwind does look rather good, even if it has followed the BMW 1 Series styling around its posterior. The new Cloudwind hatch will be powered by a 1.5l engin.

Riich G6/G5

The Riich G series is Chery’s flagship model and will be packing engines ranging from a 2.0T, to a 3.0l V6. Gearboxes will come in the form of 5 speed manual, or a six speed automatic.

The exact launch date of this car has not yet been announced, and when we tried to open the door on the one on display at the Shanghai Car Show, we found it to be locked, a shame as this car looks fantastic from the outside, and the interior looks pretty funky as well – it would have been nice to get inside as well.

Karry MPV

The light weight MPV segment has always been a popular segment in China with strong sales, now that the government is actively encouraging farmers to trade in their tractors for these little people movers practically every major manufacturer has jumped in with their own branded models. The Karry MPV will be using a 1.1l engine, and a 1.0l engine. I’ve already seen one of these on the roads and it did look rather swish when compared to its rivals.

Rely H5

The MPV segment has not seen great sales in 2009, but that is expected to improve by the end of the year. The Rely H5 is expected to take advantage of this with its sleek exterior, and technology rich interior and high comfort levels. The large MPV market has always been controlled by JAC and Jinbei, but Chery seems confident that they can sucesfully enter the market.

The Reely will be powered by a 1.9 diesel engine (TCI) with a 5 speed gearbox to match, Chery may also drop a 3.0 diesel engine into this 14 seater van at some point in the future as well. The interior is expected to be high quality, with DVD, GPS etc coming as standard.

Chery is also expected to launch the shorter Reely H3 minivan soon as well which is currently undergoing testing, however the Reely H3 is expected to become the H4 come production time.

The Reely X5 is due to launch in the second half of this year, under a slightly pointless brand name, and with a ridiculous moniker. The only good thing about this SUV is the engine, a 2.0L Turbo.

CCT got the chance to get in this car at the Shanghai Car Show, if you thought the exterior was ugly enough, the interior is a whole lot worse. For a start if felt like the door was made from recycled Moth wings, for all of its structural integrity I think a strong wind could put a healthy dent or ding in these doors. The next step was sitting in the cloth seats – “Cloth?!?1” I hear you cry! Yes – these are cloth seats in an SUV that belongs to a luxury brand of a car maker. Perhaps in the real production models they will have leather seats, but not in this show model. The next step was to hold onto the steering wheel to get a feel for the car, it wasn’t that bad. The next step was to play around with the dashboard, and the surrounding monument to modern plastic injection moulding that Chery had assembled in the X5. It would have been good if the edges wouldnt have been so sharp, I think I could have shaved my beard by rubbing my face up against the edges of the dash. But the trunk is very big, if you’ve got very big things to lug around, and dont mind driving quite possibly the ugliest SUV in existance (it’s nudging the Pontiac Aztek in the ugly stakes here) then the X5 can be yours for a mere 150,000rmb in the second half of this year.