Month: March 2021

J.D. Power released its 2020 China Initial Quality Study (IQS) report and 2020 China Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS) report in late 2020. According to the reports, Chery has reached industrial levels whether in new vehicle quality or in vehicle reliability. After years of strategic transformation, Chery has sped into a new stage of high-quality development, achieving a leap from “quantitative change” to “qualitative change”.

“Since 2010, Chery has made a switch from the pursuit of ‘sales, speed and scale’ to the pursuit of ‘quality, brand and return’ by establishing systems, improving quality and building brands, laying a solid foundation for a new leap,” said Yin Tongyue, Chairman of Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. To him, Chery’s high-quality development is inseparable from its sound systems and quality and brand pursuit.

Establishing systems to consolidate the foundation of high-quality development

Chery has created nine operation and management systems (strategic operation, quality management, product management, purchase management, production management, marketing management, financial management, HR management and IT management) through strategic transformation, laying a foundation for the high-quality development of Chery.

Chery has created an “excellent quality management system” by improving the process and standard of the “5+1” module. “5+1” refers to systematically organizing quality management activities of all departments and procedures to create one mutually coordinated and promoted quality assurance system with specific tasks, responsibilities and authorities. The system focuses on five processes of product realization: planning, design & development, supplier management, production and marketing service.

In terms of production, Chery is the first independent brand to establish a globally uniform production management system-CPS (Chery Production System) which further ensures the global quality of Chery’s products. Thanks to Chery’s total quality management system, Chery is far above the average industry level in terms of 3MIS IPTV (incidents per thousand vehicles within 3 months in service).

Improving quality to realize “zero defect”

At Chery, quality is not itself in the traditional sense but is reflected in full-process details. To Chery, any perception that can arouse customers’ desire to buy is related to quality, such as vision, smell, hearing, touch and feeling. For this reason, Chery requires employees to think and act from the perspective of customer perception to find out what they really like.

For example, Chery requires that employees should look into details such as consumers’ desired design, smell, sound and texture. The Chery Customer Product Audit (CCPA) system thus emerged to ensure conventional product quality and eliminate all the problems against customers’ perceived quality.

Building brands to guide Chinese brands in “going up”

With the advancement of systematization, Chery’s product quality has been widely recognized worldwide. In December 2020, as the only automaker among participating Chinese enterprises, Chery stood out from 577 QC teams from 15 countries in the final of 45th International Convention on Quality Control Circles (ICQCC 2020) to claim the top award-Platinum Award, winning the highest honor known as the quality “Olympics” for China for the fourth time.

Besides, Chery has improved its overseas brand image through localized marketing. Before entering an overseas market, Chery would study local consumers’ behavioral habits and launch corresponding marketing measures to fully integrate itself into the local community. In Chile and other South American countries crazy for football, Chery has enhanced its brand popularity through sports marketing. UC Club sponsored by Chery won the Chilean Primera División title in February 2021, to boost Chery’s global sports marketing and further enhance its overseas image.

Remarkably, Chery was listed among “Chinese Enterprises with the Best Global Image” for the fifth time in 2020.

Quality is the basis of competition and brands are the key to competition. With the development of economic globalization, quality and brands have gradually become the core competitiveness of enterprises. Under this prevailing trend, Chery is achieving a leap from “quality orientation” to “brand orientation” with equal emphasis on quality

Chery Holding Group (hereinafter referred to as “Chery Group”) recently released the latest sales report for February 2021. Data shows that in February, Chery Group continued to maintain its “acceleration”, with 50,778 vehicles sold, up 144.9% year over year. Notably, Chery Automobile’s star products represented by the new generation of Chery Tiggo 8 and Chery Tiggo 5x continued to sell well in the European and South American markets. In February, 16,512 vehicles were exported, a 107.3% year-on-year increase.

As the earliest Chinese auto brand to explore the international market, Chery Automobile sees a continued growth in international sales in 2021. On the one hand, this stems from its long-term commitment to the globalization strategy; on the other hand, it is made possible by the continued diversification of Chery Automobile’s product portfolios for foreign markets, the tech-driven quality empowerment, and the further improvement of its brand image.

Star car models go global and “International Tiggo” enters the global market

Beginning in 2019, Chery Automobile has accelerated the launch of new products overseas in order to further expand the international market. Chery’s star car models headlined by Chery Arrizo 5, Chery Tiggo 5x, Chery Tiggo 7, and the new generation of Chery Tiggo 8 have successively “gone global”, enlarging the fan base in the global market with their strength. Taking the new generation of Chery Tiggo 8 as an example, it was launched in the Brazilian market last August and got an impressive monthly sales of more than 1,000 units in as little as four months. It was selected as the “Midsize SUV of the Year” by the renowned Brazilian website UOL after a victory over the Ford Territory and Jeep Compass.

In February 2021, Chery Automobile’s another global model, the Chery Tiggo 5x”, also went global from the Port of Shanghai, heading for overseas markets including Russia. Complement to Chery’s overseas product portfolios, it will also further boost Chery’s sales growth in overseas markets.

Technology-driven quality empowerment and high standards to establish hard power

The automobile industry is a technology intensive industry. To gain positive international recognition, Chinese auto brands must be anchored in technology and quality. Technically, Chery Automobile has insisted on independent innovation since its establishment in 1997, with 5%-7% of its sales revenue invested in research and development every year. In terms of key core technologies such as engines, Chery has already had the capabilities to compete directly with multinational auto manufacturers in the countries such as South Korea and Japan.

As for quality, Chery has established a globally unified standard Production Management System – Chery Production System (CPS), which effectively guarantees the quality of new products. At present, the 3MIS IPTV (incidents per thousand vehicles within 3 months) of Chery’s new products has led the pack among Chinese brands and exceeded the average level of some mainstream joint venture brands.

Proven technology and reliable quality enable Chery Automobile to gradually conquer the picky overseas consumers. Taking the Russian market as an example, Chery has currently sold more than 200,000 vehicles locally, and has been repeatedly honored as the “Most Popular Chinese Auto Brand” in Russia, claiming the top spot among Chinese car brands.

Deep dedication to local marketing, with further improved brand image

In addition to the continued expansion of overseas product portfolios and the empowerment of technology and quality, the fact that Chery’s overseas sales have soared is also directly linked to the sustained efforts to promote local development. Chery has always hoped to bring benefits to all parties by introducing vehicles to the market, but to share development results with its partners during its overseas development journey. For instance, Chery builds local facilities overseas to generate more job opportunities in local areas. At the same time, it has also brought some of Chery’s state-of-the-art technologies, manufacturing processes, and management methods, speeding up the development of local automobile manufacturing technology.

In addition, Chery has also fueled the enhancement of its brand image overseas through deep dedication to local marketing. Every time Chery stakes a claim in a foreign market, it will dive into local consumer behavior and habits, and launch corresponding marketing measures to fully integrate into the local social culture. In Chile, South America, and other regions where football is popular, Chery leverages sports marketing to make its brand image more popular. In February 2021, Club Deportivo Universidad Católica sponsored by Chery won the championship, adding another success to Chery’s global sports marketing efforts and further upgrading Chery’s brand image overseas.

At the same time, Chery is ramping up its global presence, including building a globally integrated R&D system and sales service system to support the localized operations of Chery products in mainstream global markets. Currently, Chery has established five major R&D bases, 10 overseas factories, 1,500-plus overseas dealers and service stations around the world, with a total overseas production capacity of 200,000 units per year. Looking into the future, Chery will further integrate global resources, and have global product development processes on board to further enhance Chery’s ability to compete in the global market.

Through deep dedication to overseas markets for 20 years, Chery Automobile has completed the fundamental transformation from initially “pure trade” to “brand output” today, from the “going global” of products to the “going in” of factories and culture and to the “going up” of the brand. Today, Chery Automobile products have been sold to more than 80 countries and regions around the world, with a cumulative export of over 1.7 million vehicles. In the international automobile arena, Chery Automobile, like mainstream multinational brands, has become a household name in many countries, and has been the first choice on ordinary people’s car purchase list.