for other uses see cherry disambiguation . chery automobile co. ltd. type state owned corporation industry automotive founded march 18 1997 ; 19 years ago 1997 03 18 headquarters wuhu anhui china key people yin tongyue chairman products automobiles engines subsidiaries chery jaguar land rover 50 % qoros 50 % website cheryinternational.com chery simplified chinese traditional chinese literal meaning chery automobile co. ltd. transcriptions standard mandarin hanyu pinyin q ru q ch chery automobile co. ltd. 1 trading as chery and sometimes known by the pinyin transcription of its chinese name qirui 2 is a chinese automobile manufacturer headquartered in wuhu anhui province china . it was founded by the government of china in 1997 and is a state owned corporation . chery s principal products are passenger cars minivans and suvs ; it sells passenger cars under the chery marque and commercial vehicles under the karry brand . chery is the tenth largest china based automaker measured by 2012 output around 590 000 units . chery began the production of automobiles in 1999 and their export from china in 2001 . it has been china s largest passenger car exporter since 2003 and in 2011 exported around 25 % of its total production . 3 it operates a 50 50 joint venture with kenon holdings qoros which was formed in 2007 and sells a range of premium vehicles in emerging markets . in 2012 jaguar land rover formed 50 50 joint venture chery jaguar land rover for the production of jaguar and land rover cars in china with chery . chery has several vehicle assembly and component manufacturing facilities in mainland china and its vehicles are assembled in around 15 other countries primarily in factories not owned by the company that utilize either complete or semi complete knock down kits . it has two domestic r & d centers and invests around 7 % of its total revenues in product development . its qq city car considered to be the best known chery model 4 spawned a sub brand in its own right ; the qq6 and the qqme are two other cars produced by the company and the original qq may now be designated the qq3 . in the early 2000s chery received criticism from general motors for alleged infringement of its intellectual property rights . contents 1 history 1.1 1997 to 2010 1.2 2010 to present 2 operations 2.1 mainland china 2.2 other 2.2.1 brazil 2.2.2 egypt 2.2.3 indonesia 2.2.4 iran 2.2.5 malaysia 2.2.6 myanmar 2.2.7 pakistan 2.2.8 taiwan 2.2.9 thailand 2.2.10 turkey 2.2.11 ukraine 2.2.12 venezuela 2.2.13 former factories 2.2.14 russia 2.2.15 uruguay 3 joint ventures 3.1 chery jaguar land rover 3.2 qoros 4 products and services 4.1 vehicles 4.1.1 discontinued 4.1.2 current 4.1.3 concepts 4.2 engines 4.3 after sales service 5 electric vehicles 5.1 electric models 6 sales 7 motorsport 8 safety record 9 controversies 9.1 copying claims 9.1.1 gm lawsuit 9.2 bricklin u.s. court case 10 see also 11 references 12 external links history edit 1997 to 2010 edit chery was founded in 1997 as a state owned enterprise by a group of officials from anhui province and began automobile production in 1999 5 using a chassis licensed from volkswagen s seat toledo . 6 called the fengyun chery s first car sold nearly 30 000 units . 5 the wall street journal has described chery s corporate culture as an odd hybrid of communist state enterprise and entrepreneurial start up 5 and entrepreneurial risk taking is evident in its early history . initial production was technically illegal as the company was only awarded a passenger car production license in 2003 7 and so while its first product rolled off the line in december 1999 it couldn t be legally sold until 2001 . 5 in that year chery solved the problem by piggybacking on a saic motor license 5 which it did until 2003 . 7 perhaps the 20 % ownership stake in chery that saic once held 8 was compensation for this early favor but the ownership was soon sold due to rising tensions between chery and another saic partner general motors . 9 gm is not the only foreign partner of saic to have been exasperated with chery ; volkswagen claims chery was using tooling from an old vw factory to produce a model that resembled a jetta c. 2003 . 10 in the late 2000s chery began to actively seek a partnership with a foreign automaker a hallmark of major chinese car makers . tie ups with both chrysler and fiat were touted but fell through . in 2007 chrysler planned a cooperation with chery that would have seen the chery a1 sold as a dodge brand car in the us and abroad . 11 the plan would have quickly increased the chrysler small car stable and the two companies participated in a signing ceremony in late 2007 . 12 in early 2008 a similar deal was reached between chrysler and nissan however and the chrysler chery cooperation was abandoned . 13 around the time of the 2009 chrysler chapter 11 reorganization chrysler discussed the possibility of an asset sale with chery . 14 chery v5 produced since 2008 in 2007 fiat and chery signed a memorandum of understanding for the creation of a car making joint venture . intended to begin operations in 2009 it was to manufacture fiat and alfa romeo branded products for the chinese market and be located in wuhu anhui province . 15 the deal was put on hold in march 2009 . 16 as of 2012 fiat produces in china with local partner gac group . 17 qoros a car making joint venture between chery and singapore based kenon holdings was established in 2007 . 18 in october 2009 chery announced plans for an assembly plant in turkey to be built in cooperation with the turkish automaker mermerler otomotiv at a cost of 500 million . 19 20 the plant is planned to have an initial capacity of 20 000 units per year rising to 100 000 by 2017 . 20 as of 2012 the plant has yet to commence production . 21 when it comes online this production base will add to a handful of joint venture factories that chery has in places like argentina 22 and iran . 23 these stand in contrast to a number of factories outside china that assemble chery vehicles but in which chery does not have an ownership stake . in 2009 chery produced 508 500 units 24 and at this time it had an annual production capacity of around 650 000 units . 25 more than 400 000 of its 2009 sales were sedans . 26 production capacity figures may consider engines and vehicles as discrete . 2010 to present edit former logo used until april 2013 chery became the 7th most productive chinese vehicle manufacturer in 2010 by selling nearly 700 000 units . 27 slipping sales marked 2011 and 2012 ; in these years the company produced more than 640 000 and near 590 000 units respectively and it moved from a seventh to a tenth place ranking . 28 this decrease may be due to chery s manufacturing mix being significantly different than that of other major chinese automakers ; the company does make commercial vehicles but suvs comprise only 14 % of its product line . an agreement with tata motors was struck in march 2012 to produce jaguar land rover models in china . in 2013 a tata executive stated that this deal was still on track 29 and some expect the planned production base to start output in 2014 . 30 in june 2012 plans to build a production base in malaysia were announced and as of july 2012 this project is proceeding without a local partner . 31 the planned factory will have a production capacity of 10 000 units per year . 31 after having introduced the karry rely and riich sub brands in 2009 its sprawling production policy and lineup became a problem for chery . 32 with over 100 new models in the works chery decided in the fall of 2012 to cancel the rely and riich brands and to narrow its focus . 32 as of 2012 30 new models are planned a significant reduction from the prior future lineup . 32 operations edit chery a3 mainland china edit chery s main production base in the mainland of china is located in anhui . 11 33 34 as of 2007 the company had two auto making production bases two engine making facilities and a gearbox production base . 33 another car making production base located in dalian liaoning province became operational in 2012 . 34 35 chery invests around 7 % of its total sales in research and development 36 and as of 2011 had over 4 000 patents . 37 it has r & d facilities in wuhu anhui province 38 and changshu jiangsu province . 39 other edit there are a number of factories in developing countries that manufacture chery vehicles from either complete or semi complete knock down kits . with the exception of an argentinian cooperation 22 and an iranian factory 23 these are not owned by chery . as of the beginning of 2012 13 operational factories produced chery vehicles and an additional three were in development . 40 these factories have appeared in egypt citation needed indonesia 41 iran 23 malaysia 41 the middle east 22 north africa 22 pakistan 42 uruguay 41 russia 41 taiwan 43 thailand citation needed ukraine 41 and vietnam . 44 brazil edit chery has a production base in jacarei brazil that began construction in july 2011 40 in a joint effort with the government of the state of s o paulo . 45 the plant began operating in august 2014 with a first phase production capacity of 50 000 units per year . in phase two the plant will achieve an annual production capacity of 150 000 units . the models produced are the hybrid powered celer and the qq . 46 egypt edit assembly of chery cars from complete knock down kits began in egypt in 2004 according to the company itself 47 but news reports indicate that it only expressed initial interest in doing so that year . 48 as of 2011 some chery models may be sold here under the brand name speranza . 49 50 one egyptian factory making chery models from semi complete knock down kits had a 2009 production capacity of 30 000 vehicles year . 51 in 2011 chery stated the part localization ratio for egypt was 45 % . 37 indonesia edit in this country chery models have been assembled from knock down kits since 2006 . 52 iran edit manufacture from kits in iran dates from as early as 2004 . 48 in late 2007 chery stated that it held a minority ownership in a joint venture with iranian khodro and canadian solitac as its partners . 23 this jv controlled a knock down factory in babol mazandaran . making a qq6 renamed the s21 it may be sold both inside and outside iran 23 and carry a brand name other than chery as well . citation needed malaysia edit a small facility may have become operational c. 2004 48 and by 2008 a factory assembling chery models from knock down kits opened in johor bahru johor . 52 as of 2012 another factory is expected to be built and operational in malaysia by 2015 . 53 myanmar edit as of may 2011 a 3 000 to 5 000 units per year production facility is planned in the country . 40 as of 2012 the chery qq is apparently popular in yangon . 54 pakistan edit in 2004 chery expressed interest in exporting knock down kits to this country 48 and at present some assembly may occur . taiwan edit the chery a3 is