China's Chery lands in Europe: its cars will be jv in Barcelona

The Chinese debut in Spain was blessed in Madrid directly by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. There had been rumours of negotiations with Italy, but the state-controlled Chery car manufacturer chose Barcelona as its first landing in Europe. In fact, in mid-March, Adolfo Urso, the Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy, had spoken of negotiations with three producers in the Dragon, BYD, Chery and Saic, to push domestic production towards the one million units per year mark, in the absence of convincing answers from Stellantis.

Chery, which remains one of the pivotal Chinese partners of the rampant DR Motors in Italy, announced on Friday 19 April that the new Iberian hub will be one of its main export hubs worldwide: it will produce 150,000 vehicles a year by 2029 in a joint venture with Ebro-EV Motors. "Once we reach a sufficient production scale, we will plan to export to the rest of Europe and other countries, turning this plant into one of Chery's main export sites worldwide," saidZhang Guibing, executive vice-president of Chery International, during the joint venture presentation.

Ebro, a subsidiary of EV Motors is a brand that produced trucks and buses and closed down in 1987. It is seeking a relaunch starting with electric pick-ups. Chery is the third car maker in China, with 1.88 million vehicles produced last year, and has historically been the leading exporter. In 2023, the Chery Group, headquartered in Wuhu (Anhui), shipped 937,148 vehicles abroad out of the 4.9 million total exported from China to the world (including vehicles made by Western brands, such as Tesla, Mercedes or Bmw), an annual growth of 101.1%. Chery has been China's leading exporter for 21 consecutive years.

L’auto cinese in Spagna

Intesa ai massimi livelli per la fabbrica Chery a Barcellona

Il vicepresidente esecutivo di Chery International, Zhang Guibing (a destra), stringe la mano all’amministratore delegato di Ebro, Pedro Calef (a sinistra), mentre Shan Xiangqian (a destra), vice governatore della provincia cinese di Anhui (dove ha sede Chery), il primo ministro spagnolo Pedro Sanchez (al centro) e il presidente della regione catalana Pere Aragones (a sinistra) applaudono durante la cerimonia di firma dell’accordo tra la società automobilistica cinese Chery Automobile ed EV Motors per la produzione di veicoli elettrici Chery a Barcellona. EPA/Quique Garcia

Premier Sanchez attended the official ceremony for the signing of the agreement between the Spanish electric pick-up manufacturer and the Chinese group. The agreement will also translate into jobs, up to 1,250 in the old Nissan factory, Sanchez recalled, emphasising that this JV 'is more than a big business project. It is a symbol of the reindustrialisation of the whole country, of our ability to attract foreign investment, and an example of public-private collaboration'.

Sanchez pointed out that Spain is the second largest car manufacturer in Europe after Germany (with 2.45 million vehicles in 2023, including commercial, light industrial and vans; in Italy 880,000) and the eighth largest exporter worldwide. "We have 17 factories in 10 regions, and 15 technology centres", and "in 2023 the car industry exported 87% of its production", the Iberian government chief added.