Chery plans to build R&D center in Brazil

Chery Automobile speeds up its step to expand in foreign market although the sales in domestic market are still unsatisfied. It is reported that Chery Automobile plans to build a R&D center to support local automobile production and to adapt consumption tendency of South America market.

After building an engine factory in November, Chery automobile plans to build a R&D center in Brazil. The CEO of Chery Brazil, Luis Curi, said the investment of this center would be tens of millions, aiming to promote localization. Chery has planned an assembly plant, an engine factory and a R&D center.

In fact, the sales of Chery in Brazil are not satisfied. In accordance with the data, the sales volume is 2,504 in first half of this year. The market share is only 0.15 percent, ranking 20th in automobile manufacturers. Comparing to last year, the sales of Chery in Brazil has decreased by 72.5 percent. Although the sales are unsatisfied, those investments show the emphasis of Chery on Brazil market.

In 2012, the exported volume of Chinese vehicles was 1.0161 million, whose year-on-year growth was 19.51 percent, refreshing the record of exporting. But there was decreasing trend in exporting from April 2013. In accordance with the data, the increasing speed fell by 7.4 percent.

But Chinese automobile manufacturers still show great enthusiasm towards newly developing countries. Brazil, Argentina and Russian have become their investment destination. Many self-owned brands including Great Wall, JAC, Lifan and Chery have planned to build plants in Brazil and plan to put into production next year.