Chery plans public listing to fuel expansion plans
- Source: China Daily
- [10:15 April 29 2009]
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The group now has overseas plants in Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Egypt, Indonesia, Uruguay, Thailand and Malaysia. It has plans for another seven factories abroad.
Chery's joint venture with US firm Quantum LLC will begin production of Chery high-end cars at the end of this year for domestic and overseas markets.
The joint venture in Wuhu, with a registered capital of $500 million, will have an annual manufacturing capacity of 150,000 units in the first stage. Chery has a 55 percent stake in the tie-up, with Quantum holding the rest.
Responding to reports that Chery will buy Swedish brand Volvo from Ford, Yin said: "Must we buy Volvo? Why don't we build a brand better than it? We will do our utmost to build our own brands."
Ford said last month that it had started detailed discussions with parties to sell Volvo for between $1 and $2 billion.
A phalanx of Chinese automakers, such as Chery, Chang'an and Dongfeng, are reportedly interested in Volvo.
Auto financing
Chery officially opened its auto financing joint venture last week with Huishang Bank, a commercial lender in Anhui, one year after the project was approved by Chinese regulators.
The carmaker holds an 80 percent stake of the auto financing venture which has a registered capital of 500 million yuan. Huishang Bank has the remaining stake.
The venture will provide loans to individual car buyers, Chery dealerships and renters. It has started business in Wuhu and will expand into 10 big cities in China such as Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu in the second half of this year.
Many global automakers, such as General Motors, Ford, Toyota and Daimler, have already begun to offer auto loans in China to cash in on the burgeoning business.
At present, less than 10 percent of new vehicle sales are financed in China, compared with more than 70 percent in developed markets.
Analysts said the lower lending rate is due to the lack of a sound credit system in China and the fact that local customers are not accustomed to buying cars on installment.