Chery CEO outlines carmaker’s ambitious future

Chery Auto is one carmaker we’ll all be hearing a lot more of in the near future and, with a deal already signed with Chrysler and new partnerships being formed with Fiat, you’re likely to be seeing more of Chery a lot soon than you think. Enigmatic CEO Yin Tongyao has now revealed some of Chery’s future plans including the desire to build more than a million cars per year in ten years.

Top of the list is to increase exports, improve quality and build more engines, Tongyao explained to Automotive News. He also put an end to claims Chery’s excessive growth in recent years meant it was running at a loss.

When questioned about export plans for Europe, Tongyao conceded that Chery was not yet ready and that priorities lie in China at the moment. The same can be said for any U.S. export plans. Instead, there are also plans to invest more in minicars and small cars, following the Chinese government request to produce more low-emissions vehicles.

Chery is still working with Fiat and Chrysler to develop new vehicles for Europe and North America that will meet the strict safety and emissions regulations. This year will see it build close to 400,000 cars and, by the end of the year, there should be enough capacity to build 600,000 units. The goal, Tongyao boasts, is to manufacture more than one million vehicles in China in ten years.