FengYun (2000) |
Chery Automobile is an automobile manufacturer in People's Republic of China. It is owned by the local government of Wuhu, and produced about 188,000 vehicles in 2005.
Chery was founded in 1997 to prop up the economy in remote Wuhu. The company was not able to obtain a license to produce vehicles for sale in all of China, but was saved by an order for taxis by the local government. In 2001, Shanghai Automotive Industry Company (SAIC) invested in the company, allowing it to use SAIC's national retail sales license.
In 2003, Chery founded a research and development organization, quickly designing its own 3- and 4-cylinder engines. However, Chery was also sued by GM Daewoo for copying that company's Chevrolet Spark (a.k.a. Daewoo Matiz). Chery claims that they licensed the vehicle design prior to General Motors' purchase of Daewoo. Chery was able to scout a number of key engineers from South Korea's Daewoo motor during its bankruptcy proceeding in 2001~2002, who took a complete set of plans with them and went on to create Daewoo vehicles at Chery. The copied vehicles are Daewoo Matiz(Chery QQ) mini car and Daewoo Magnus(Chery Oriental Son) mid-size sedan. They are exact replicas of Daewoos, being able to swap door panels and key components between them. Both Matiz and Magnus are currently sold as Chevrolets outside of South Korea and Vietnam.
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