In the past two years, the export of Chinese automakers has been a hot topic. In terms of domestic automobile exports, Chery is a car company worthy of people's attention.
According to the relevant disclosed data, Chery Group's exports in the first quarter reached 253,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 40.9%. Among them, new energy vehicles reached 60,000, with a year-on-year growth rate of 124.3%. And such a high growth rate is based on the already large export base last year.
In 2023, Chery Group's total exports reached 937,000 units, up 101.1% y/y. In the past 21 years, Chery has firmly established the No. 1 position in the export of Chinese brand passenger cars. Among Chery's more than 13 million users worldwide, the number of overseas users has reached 3.35 million. At a time when the competition in the domestic auto market is becoming increasingly fierce, how Chery can inject new vitality into the continuous growth of overseas sales is worthy of attention from all parties.
Expand into the European market
At present, Chery's overseas markets are mainly concentrated in Central Asia, South America and the Middle East. Its production bases are also distributed in South America, the Middle East and Russia. Considering the current restrictive policies of the United States for Chinese automobiles, it has become an important strategic task for Chery to realize the layout of the European market as soon as possible.
In February this year, Chery held a launch event for two models under the OMODA and JAECOO brands in Madrid, the capital of Spain. Both models are scheduled to go on sale in Italy in the third quarter of this year, with the UK and Poland by the end of the year. In addition to the introduction of models, there have been rumors in Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom that Chery will set up factories there.
All three countries have strong interest in bringing in Chery or other Chinese brand car companies. Stellantis has plans to lay off a large number of workers in Italy, which urgently needs Chery to fill the vacancy, and Spain, which also wants Chery to reopen Nissan's plant in Barcelona to restore about 1,600 local jobs.
Local production in Europe is expected to bypass the impact of tariffs brought about by the EU price subsidy investigation, reduce logistics costs, and at the same time, Chery can also be closer to users and directly obtain information input from users to design models that are more in line with the needs of local consumers in Europe.
However, building a factory in Europe will face problems such as labor costs, as well as the overall increase in the cost of the entire new energy auto parts industry chain, which is a way for Chery to better manage risks.
In addition, changes in management models and how to deal with European trade unions, and even the integration of Chery's corporate culture and local European culture, will be a big test.
Technology transfer may become a new bright spot
Compared with vehicle exports and overseas plant construction, for Chery, the export of vehicle platform technology is becoming a bright spot.
On April 14, Yin Tongyue, chairman of Chery Holding Group, mentioned that two European luxury brands will use Chery's technology platform to build cars, one is close to signing a contract, and the other overseas brand is "also talking". For Chery, it will also follow in the footsteps of other domestic car companies and begin to transfer technology to foreign-funded car companies.
After denying that Jaguar Land Rover will use the Chery Star Era ET platform, Maserati and Alfa Romeo, which are owned by Stellantis, the second largest car group in Europe, have reported that they may be negotiating the introduction of the Star Era platform.
Since European car companies have previously formulated a policy of completely banning the sale of fuel vehicles in 2035, for those European car companies with Europe as their main battlefield, accelerating the pace of electric vehicle research and development has changed from a strategic choice to a direction that must be implemented.
At present, the two biggest problems facing European car companies to launch electric vehicle models are cost and intelligence. Chery's Xingtu Star Era platform gives a more balanced solution in both aspects.
Before Chery, there were already many such cases in China. In 2023, Volkswagen will take a stake in Xpeng and Stellantis will take a stake in Leap, both in the hope of obtaining a part of the technology transfer.
Geely used its equity relationship with Volvo and Mercedes-Benz to OEM EX30 and Elf #1, two models that use Geely SEA's vast architecture, for Volvo and Smart. Judging by the current sales situation, both models are not performing badly.
In particular, EX30, with the help of Volvo's high brand appeal in Europe and Volvo's own long-term layout in Europe, has helped Volvo to make a beautiful turnaround in the field of electric vehicles, and has become the biggest reliance on Volvo's annual sales target.
In addition, like the Dacia Spring, a subsidiary of the Renault Group, it is a model designed in China, made in China, exported to Europe and achieved good results. From this point of view, by purchasing platform technology related to Xingtu Star Era from Chery, and then integrating it into its own car-making concept and technology, both Maserati and Alfa Romeo can have a lot of expectations in the future.
New energy vehicles are in full swing
Recently, Chery has successively launched a number of new energy vehicles with advantages in product strength, laying a solid foundation for Chery to occupy a place in the domestic new energy vehicle market in 2024. Among them, the latest debut is the Star Era ET and two new models of the ICAR series, the V23 and X25.
The Epoch ET is available in two versions: extended-range and pure electric. The former has a comprehensive range of 1500km, and the latter has a pure electric range of up to 760km, which is in a relatively leading position in the current market.
Based on Chery's latest generation EEA 5.0 electronic and electrical architecture, Epoch ET not only realizes the global SOA service-oriented software, but also the most popular large model has also been put on the car.
In terms of intelligent driving, with the blessing of the NVIDIA Drive Orin chip with up to 508TOPS computing power, the Epoch ET can achieve safer NEP full-scene intelligent driving assistance, and it is not lagging behind mainstream models in terms of intelligent driving.
Positioned as a "style off-road electric urban SUV", the iCAR V23 not only has an off-road-style square box shape with great visual impact, but also the deployment of L2+ level intelligent driving and 8155 mainstream chips enables the vehicle to reach the leading level of the market segment.
The ICAR X25 is positioned as a medium and large off-road style MPV, with a futuristic sense of technology. Not to mention the domestic market, it is likely to attract a lot of attention in the overseas market.
As a science and engineering man in the domestic automotive industry, Chery Automobile has reached a period of accumulation in the past two or three years. Whether it is its painstaking layout in the overseas market in the early stage, or its research and development of many underlying core technologies, including internal combustion engines, Chery has now been firmly ranked in the first echelon of domestic passenger cars.
In the face of today's serious involution in China's auto market, if self-owned brand car companies want to go to the next level, overseas layout is the top priority. In this case, Chery Automobile, which has taken the lead in the overseas market layout, once again stands at the forefront of many domestic independent brands.
As long as there is a steady stream of good products on the market, Chery can achieve a larger share in the overseas market and obtain more considerable benefits by virtue of its leadership in new energy vehicles and intelligent network technology, just like other domestic car companies.