Chery Automobile

"Chery" redirects here. For similar words, see Cherry (disambiguation) or Cherie (disambiguation).

Chery Automobile (Chinese: 奇瑞汽车; English pronunciation: [ˈʃɛɹiː]) ) is an automobile manufacturer in China. In pinyin it is "qíruì" and its English transliteration should have been "Cheery" but there was a mistake in the transliteration process and it was decided by the company to not correct this[citation needed]. It is owned by the local government of Wuhu (but is scheduled to be privatized), and sold about 305,000 vehicles in 2006. It is the largest independent Chinese auto manufacturer and one of the fastest growing automakers in the world.

History

Early years

Chery was founded in 1997 to prop up the economy of Wuhu, a region of China that has received little industrial development. Its first factory used machines and engine technology purchased from Ford Europe for US$25 million. It began auto production in 1999 using a licenced chassis from SEAT's Toledo. The company was an illegitimate company under Chinese law of the time and had to be registered as a "Car Parts Supplier." Thus, the company was not able to obtain a license to sell their cars in all of China. In 2001, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) bought a 20% stake in the company, allowing Chery to use SAIC's national retail sales license. In 2001, Chery began exporting its cars to Syria, becoming China's first car exporter. Chery also received its ISO-9001 certification. In September 2002, Chery received its ISO/TS 16949 certification, the highest certification at the time.

2003 to present

In 2003, Chery founded a research and development organization, and began working with foreign consultant firms to improve its technology and quality. Chery hired a Japanese engineer from Mitsubishi to head Chery's Lean/Six Sigma production systems, which were first applied to their cars in 2003. They adopted DURR Paint Systems in their paint shop in 2004, becoming one of only 5 factories in the world to have this advanced paint system. SAIC sold its stake back to Chery in 2004 due to rising tension between Chery and its other partners General Motors and Volkswagen