Chinese Chery assembles cars in Russia in old factories of Western brands – News

Chinese automakers have increased sales in Russia after most Western automakers were forced out of the Russian market following an attack in February 2022, and are currently accounting for more than half of the country’s car sales. Now they are expanding the opportunity to participate in a larger part of Russian production. This shows how Beijing has been strengthening its influence in the Russian manufacturing industry and economy since the attack.

In addition to importing cars to Russia, Chery is now also importing cars that are almost ready and completing assembly at three Russian factories, the sources said. Chery has almost a fifth of passenger car sales in Russia.

Chery is China’s largest car exporter. The company seems to be betting on strong demand in the country as the Russian domestic market is struggling with limited production and unused production capacity.

When asked by Reuters, Chery said that they are bringing passenger cars to the Russian market but have no plans to build or buy their own factories there. The company did not comment on questions about assembly operations in factories. In July, Chery announced plans to enter more than 60 new markets in the next three years.

Russia levies a customs duty on imported cars. This may encourage foreign car makers to assemble their cars on Russian territory.

The Tiggo and Exeed SUV models roll off the production line at plants once owned by Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Nissan. The new owners of the plants in Russia are monitoring production, the sources said.

Chery’s export strategy is called “semi-knockout” (SKD), which means that almost completely assembled cars are imported into Russia and Chery pays the freight. -property of plant to complete the assembly.

The Nissan plant in St. Petersburg on production in January, when they said they were working with an unnamed foreign partner. From May to September, the plant sold 3,447 cars. At the center, the Chery Tiggo 7 is being renamed as the Xcite X-Cross 7, sources added.

The Tiggo model is also assembled in small numbers at the plant in the city of Kaluga, which belonged to Volkswagen. Deputy regional governor Vladimir Popov said in August that the plant would produce 27,000 cars this year.

In the Moscow region, the Exeed VX mid-class luxury crossover is assembled at the old Mercedes-Benz plant. The annual capacity of the center is 25,000 cars.

Chery and Russia want to reduce public information about production in Russia, one of the sources said. China’s cooperation with Russia has already attracted the attention of the West, which is trying to stop all efforts that could help Russia invade Ukraine .

Chery has almost quadrupled sales in Russia to more than 200,000 vehicles in 2023, according to Russian analytical group Autostat. This year, she has already surpassed this number.