Month: December 2020

Chery’s first car-“Fulwin” numbered “000001” rolled off the line on December 18, 1999, marking a new milestone of Chinese brands and a breakthrough of Chery in independent car building. On December 18, 2020, Chery achieved another breakthrough with cumulative sales of 9 million units.

From “Fulwin” stirring the Chinese market 21 years ago to EXEED, Arrizo, Tiggo, Jetour and Cowin shining in global markets today, Chery has established a dozen automakers including wholly-owned Chery Automobile and Chery Commercial Vehicle, as well as joint ventures like Chery Jaguar Land Rover and Cowin Auto, created a series of brands, and formed a pattern from the “entry level” to the “luxury level” in the passenger vehicle field.

Just as “Fulwin” that surprised Chinese brands, a host of star models have emerged from Chery’s product lineup today. As a key series of Chery, Tiggo 8 has registered cumulative sales of nearly 300,000 units over the two years since its launch, and achieved record sales of over 20,000 units in November. As the first series developed according to the global forward development process, Arrizo has been recognized by domestic and overseas markets for its overwhelming strength. Arrizo 5 was the only Chinese sedan ranked by the J.D. Power 2020 China Initial Quality Study SM (IQS).

As a premium brand of Chery, EXEED has witnessed the upward brand development of Chery. Under a forward R&D system, with a global vision, EXEED aims to build an independent world top M3X platform. Empowered by the M3X platform, EXEED TXL of outstanding quality achieved a five-star plus C-NCAP rating with an overall score of 93.6%, ranking first among all midsize SUVs in evaluations since the new rules came into effect.

If China is the main base of Chery, the overseas market is an increasingly important sector for Chery. In 2020 marking the 20th year of Chery’s globalization, the number of Chery’s overseas customers among its 9 million global customers exceeded 1.7 million and Chery was China’s largest passenger vehicle exporter for the 17th consecutive year.

As China’s first auto brand to go global, Chery has implemented a “three-step” strategy for globalization. From “going out” to “going in” and “going up”, Chery has gradually worked out a scheme for the globalization of Chinese brands.

Now Chery boasts 6 R&D bases, 10 plants, as well as over 1,500 overseas dealers and service networks across the world. Chery’s overseas production capacity totals up to 200,000 units per year. Chery has exported auto products to over 80 countries and regions, of which 46 are along the “Belt and Road”. In key markets like Russia and Egypt, Chery is a well-known brand.

At the 2020 Summit on Global Image of Chinese Enterprises in November, Chery was listed among “2020 Top 20 Chinese Enterprises with the Best Global Image” (“Belt and Road” Edition), moving into the top 10 along with enterprises like Huawei, Lenovo and Alibaba. This is the 5th time that Chery has won this honor and Chery came out on top in the auto industry.

From 1 to 9 million, Chery has not only achieved growth amid the market slump, but also gone on a track of high-quality development. With the expansion of its primary business-automobile, Chery has deployed operations in sectors such as automotive parts, real estate, finance, modern services and intelligentization apart from automobile, brought together over 270 member enterprises, and achieved cumulative revenues of over 100 billion yuan, thus creating a vibrant “auto ecosystem”.

On December 16, Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. (Chery) and Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei) concluded an all-round framework agreement for in-depth cooperation in fields such as cloud computing, big data and smart car solutions, to promote the business development of both sides.

Witnessed by Yin Tongyue, Chairman of Chery and Wang Jun, President of Huawei’s Smart Car Solutions BU, Gao Xinhua, Vice President of Chery and Chi Linchun, General Manager of Marketing and Sales Service at Huawei’s Smart Car Solutions BU signed the agreement.

Under the agreement, the two sides will carry out all-round cooperation in fields such as electrical and electronic architectures of smart cars, intelligent connection, intelligent cockpit, onboard computing, autonomous driving, intelligent energy and Intelligent Vehicle Cloud Services (IVCS). They will jointly explore 5G-based innovative application scenarios, and develop the technologies of 5G+V2X, vehicle-infrastructure cooperation and autonomous driving. Besides, the two sides will cooperate in big data infrastructure, storage, analysis, high-performance computing and informatization, to help Chery speed up its reform in the big data era.

The intelligent connected vehicle is an outcome of the integration of ICT and the traditional auto industry, and ICT-based software and hardware will play a greater role in the future auto industry, said Wang. In this historical context, Huawei will team up with Chery to develop core ICT technologies and help it make good smart cars. It is believed that the cooperation will promote the development of China’s auto industry. Grasping the consumption trend of future mobility, the two sides will conduct joint exploration and innovation to build software-defined vehicles to create smarter mobility experience for consumers.

Mobile Internet and smart cars have significantly changed more than 100 years of history of the world auto industry, Chery is planning ahead, embracing the changes of the era and accelerating the transformation from traditional vehicles into smart cars and new energy vehicles, said Yin. Huawei is the pride of the Chinese people and its spirit is worth our learning. It is believed that the all-round cooperation between Chery and Huawei will boost the leap of both sides, turn vehicles from mechanical products into software-defined and intelligent products, and help China’s auto industry master core technologies in fields such as software, intelligent cockpit and chip and go global as China’s home appliances and mobile phone industries are doing today.

Chery Group has recently released its sales results for November, reporting sales of 101,900 units, up 15.9% month on month and up 36.4% year on year, registering a record high in terms of monthly sales and growth in recent years. Chery reported sales of 64,574 units, up 18.3% month on month and up 52% year on year, registering year-on-year and month-on-month growth for the sixth consecutive month.

Chery achieved year-on-year and month-on-month sales growth, as well as record monthly sales amid the overall market slump, showing its results in strategic transformation: accelerating product upgrading, empowering innovative channels, improving brand experience, greatly enhancing core competitiveness and taking the preemptive opportunity in the fast-changing market.

Accelerating product upgrading through system empowerment

Chery has achieved brilliant results, which is benefited by system improvement after strategic transformation. Empowered by the system, Chery has kept accelerating product upgrading and achieved significant effects. Since the beginning of this year, Chery has launched new products faster and further improved its capacity for segment radiation through a broad product spectrum and more targeted production positioning, thus greatly enhancing its market competitiveness.

Take Tiggo 8 for example: Tiggo 8 has kept upgrading to meet market changes and consumers’ expectations since its launch. In 2018, Chery launched Tiggo 8 featuring intelligence and a flexible layout of 5+2 seats, which fast gained market recognition. In 2019, Chery launched new Tiggo 8 powered by a 1.6TGDI engine to meet consumers’ need for higher power performance. The sales of Tiggo 8 topped 20,000 units to reach 20,677 units, up 52.6% year on year and up 26.1% month on month.

Driven by Tiggo 8, the Tiggo series registered record sales of 47,565 units in November, up 75% year on year and up 16.9% month on month!

Deepening “new retail” and tapping new customer needs through innovative channel empowerment

To tap new customer needs, extend the business chain, improve vehicle transaction efficiency, further occupy the market, accelerate channel sinking and reach more potential consumers, Chery has further accelerated new retail operations, integrated resources such as finance, loan and insurance, developed self-operated and cooperative channels, and brought inbound marketing, sales, finance and other scenarios online by technical means, to create a digital new retail platform. In the meantime, Chery has established product big data models, customized products, and conducted online and offline inbound marketing through multi-antenna information extension and multi-scenario sales.

Conducting interactive marketing through brand experience upgrading

Aside from products and channels, Chery’s record sales have been attributable to brand experience upgrading. Based on its insight into new consumption groups and marketing forms, Chery has further strengthened the “virtual connection” between brands and customers, initially created a content platform including super IP, super contents and super customers, and offered customers individualized, customized and diversified brand “connection” services through the intelligent distribution and tracking of big data.

Brand experience upgrading has further driven the growth of Chery’s customers. According to the latest data, the number of Chery’s global customers has exceeded 8.9 million, Chery’s customer groups are getting younger and the proportion of customers under the age of 30 is rising. In the future, Chery will continue to advance brand upgrading and promote brand development.

2020 is a challenging year, as well as a year of success in strategic transformation for Chery. Under the dual pressure of the economic downturn and the market downturn, Chery has achieved breakthroughs in products, channels and brands. With the persistent upgrading of products, channels and brands, Chery is believed to give us more surprises at the end of 2020.

The 45th International Convention on Quality Control Circles (ICQCC 2020) was recently held in Bangladesh. Chery’s team for QC optimization won the highest international QC award for a fourth time for the “Chinese team” during the “Olympics” of the QC circles. Before this, Chery won the highest award during the 42nd convention in the Philippines, the 43rd convention in Singapore, and the 45th convention in Japan. All these have made Chery one of the auto companies that have won the most ICQCC gold awards in China’s auto industry.

Winning the highest award of the “Olympics” of the QC circles four times can be attributed to Chery’s global quality control system as well as its many years’ adherence to the vision of “creating an outstanding brand with craftsmanship” and the philosophy of “placing customers first and taking the initiative to shoulder responsibilities.” The enterprise inspires the participation of all its staff in improving product quality, forging the “craftsman’s spirit,” and promoting the high-quality development of the enterprise.

The global quality control system sets a global quality standard

After many years’ accumulation and strategic transformation, Chery boasts a deeper understanding of quality: A brand relies on quality, and quality relies on a system.

Building a system is like weaving a “net.” Every node on the net should be predictable, detectable and controllable. Only this way can uncertainties be minimized to ensure the reliability and consistency of quality. Instead of acting separately, various business divisions should work together to complete projects by integrating professional technology platforms as well as different divisions and product lines via a matrix control system, and finally form a collective system by bringing together individual capabilities.

With many years’ experience in technical innovation and quality control, Chery has established a quality control system that satisfies its global factories. Having been applied and improved by 10 Chery factories around the globe, the system has finally become Chery’s global quality control system, which covers product planning, design and development, supplier management, manufacturing, marketing services and other areas and keeps improving product quality.

Chery has established a “V” shaped forward development system, which complies with international standards and lays a solid foundation for the creation of high-quality products and the building of an outstanding brand. In addition, Chery has established the Chery Production System (CPS), a globally standardized production management system, among independent self-owned brands, which further ensures the quality of Chery’s products around the globe.

The superior product quality has also helped Chery win trust and build a good reputation on global markets. In Russia, Chile and other countries, Chery has been recognized as “the most popular Chinese autobrand” for many times. In addition, Chery has been listed among the “top 20 Chinese enterprises” for five consecutive times.

Craftsmanship Makes a Brand Stand Out and All Staff Participate in Quality Improvement

In addition to the powerful system, Chery couldn’t have won the highest international QC award continuously without the participation of all its staff in quality improvemen.

Yin Tongyue, chairman of Chery Automobile, believes that quality control is a systematical project that not only involves the top leaders, but also requires the participation of all the staff. Therefore, the key to quality improvement lies in the people. What Chery needs to do is to instill the sense of quality into the mind of every one of its staff and the gene of the brand, place tremendous emphasis on quality, and make Chery become the representative of Chinese brands.

Today, the “global quality control system” involves all Chery’s staff in quality improvement. Every product must be strictly tested and constantly improved before being launched on the market. According to the latest data of the initial quality study (IQS) released by J. D. Power in 2020, the score of Chery parallels that of the joint venture brands, with Tiggo and Arrizo performing the best. Among them, Arrizo 5 is the only Chinese sedan model on the list.

Meanwhile, the reliable product quality has also helped boost Chery’s sales growth. According to statistics, Chery Group sold 101,900 vehicles in November, up 15.9% on a month-to-month basis and 36.4% on a year-to-year basis, setting new historical records. Among them, Chery Automobile sold 64,574 vehicles, increasing by 18.3% on a month-to-month basis and 52% on a year-to-year basis. Year-on-year and month-on-month growth has been maintained for the past six months.

As China is vigorously implementing the “National Quality Strategy,” enterprises are beginning to establish their own quality control systems. The highest ICQCC award won by Chery’s QC team will not only enhance the core competitiveness of Chery Automobile, but will also make all its staff more enthusiastic about quality improvement. It is believed that Chery will win more international awards with the support of its “global quality control system in the future.

The 45th International Convention on Quality Control Circles (ICQCC 2020) took place in Dhaka, Bangladesh from December 1 to 3. Over 3,000 representatives from 577 QC teams in 15 member states of ICQCC attended the conference online and offline. The conference offers three awards: platinum, gold and sliver. After intense competition, Chery’s QC team claimed the top award-Platinum Award.

ICQCC was initiated by China, Japan and South Korea in 1976 and Japan hosted the first edition that year. Known as the quality “Olympics”, ICQCC is one of the largest and most extensive and cohesive international QC conferences. According to the ICQCC mechanism, ICQCC 2020 takes place in Bangladesh which hosted the event the ninth time. To meet the global need for virus control, the member states attended the conference in a virtual way. China sent QC teams of enterprises like CASC, CNNC, CNPC, CEC, SGCC, Chery, CRRC and Gree for a video conference in Beijing.

Chery’s QC team has worked on vehicle quality improvement, completed 38 research projects, published 19 papers and applied for 26 patents. They participated in Chery’s researches on “Model of Bi-Matrix Auto Lifecycle Quality Control” and “Lightweight Body Technology Development and Application Based on T1X (SUV) Platform”, which won the Quality Technology Progress Award from the China Association for Quality. The team implemented the concept of “quality first, customer foremost and persistent improvement”, and interpreted Chery’s vision of “building an outstanding brand with ingenuity”.

Chery released its sales results for November 2020 on December 1, reporting sales of 20,677 units, up 52.6 percent year on year and up 26.1 percent month on month, registering sales of over 10,000 units for the 5th consecutive month and sales growth for the 7th consecutive month.

 

Tiggo 8 has achieved global sales of nearly 300,000 units since its launch in 2018. It has attracted more and more young people, promoted the development of the Tiggo brand, and achieved breakthroughs in key Chinese tier 1&2 cities which account for 93 percent of the top 30 cities in terms of sales.

As a global model, Tiggo 8 has performed strongly abroad, too. In countries like Russia, Saudi Arabia, Chile, Ukraine, the Philippines and Peru, new Tiggo 8 has hit a new high in sales and market share, to become the most popular Chinese model.

The global sales boom of Tiggo 8 has been driven by technologies and markets. Since launching Tiggo 8 in 2018, Chery has kept rolling out competitive upgraded models according to market changes, to meet consumers’ needs for diversification and quality.

Chery launched Tiggo 8 featuring intelligence and a flexible layout of 5+2 seats in 2018, which fast gained market recognition. In 2019, Chery launched new Tiggo 8 powered by a 1.6TGDI engine, one of Top 10 Engines in China, to meet consumers’ need for higher power performance, and showed the tremendous strength of new Tiggo 8 with the most powerful Chinese engine and the brand charm of Tech Chery through authoritative certification, quality validation, massive customer experiences and crossover operations.

Selling over 20,000 units of Tiggo 8 shows the success of Chery’s product strategy. With the further advancement of the strategy, Tiggo 8 is expected to achieve higher sales.