Chery has selected the city of Raunheim am Main in the Frankfurt area of Germany for its new R&D facility. Operating as a newly established entity, the Chery Europe base is scheduled to open in January 2019.
“We are thus creating the basis for our market entry into Europe,” said Jochen Tueting who will be heading up the facility.
Hiring for the R&D center has already started. The aim is to employ around 30 to 50 people in an initial phase by the end of 2019.
“A serious and globally active automobile manufacturer must be present in the most important markets. At last year’s IAA we presented ourselves as a brand, now we’re going to execute our plans in and for Europe.
“We will therefore be launching models from our high-end brand Exeed that will be competitive with the leading European manufacturers in terms of quality, design and technology,” commented Chery chairman Tongyue Yin.
The R&D center in Raunheim will have departments for research and development, design and marketing and sales, and will also be responsible for preparing the market launch of Exeed models in Europe sometime after 2020.
“If Chery is to become a truly global brand, we have to go to Europe,” added Yin, making clear how important he considers the European car market to be in the Chinese car manufacturer’s efforts to match major global OEMs as soon as possible. With its focus on e-mobility, Chery says a fully electric Exeed vehicle is “very likely” as the first model to enter the European market.