Paul Tan on the Automotive Industry
The Chery B14 MPV be a nice competitor to the Naza Ria and Toyota Innova if it is priced below RM100,000. It’s also known as the Chery V5 Crossover. The MPV is a 7-seater powered by 2.0 petrol, 2.4 petrol or 1.9 turbodiesel engine options. I’m guessing the petrol engine options are the same as the Chery Tiggo’s and we’ll get the 2.0 litre unit. It was first unveiled as a concept vehicle at the 2004 Beijing Motor Show.
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[UPDATE: The Chery Tiggo has been launched in Malaysia. Click here for more details.]
The Chery T11 or known as the Chery Tiggo is what you would get if you throw a horny male Toyota RAV4 and a horny female Honda CR-V into a closed parking lot and lock them up. Their offspring would look exactly like the Chery Tiggo. It features the second generation Toyota RAV4′s rear and the second generation Honda CR-V’s front design.
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Before this, there were rumours about Proton’s collaboration with Chery Automobiles Co Ltd and Jinhua Youngman Automobile Group Co Ltd, both Chinese automotive companies. Today, we find out that Proton is actually collaborating with both companies as strategic partners.
Proton signed a pact yesterday with Chery and it’s Malaysian distributor Alado Corp Sdn Bhd to do a feasibility study that will last until 28th August 2006 on the assembly and distribution of Chery vehicles here, as well as the assembly and distribution of Proton vehicles in China.
Proton’s collaboration with Jinhua Youngman is of a different type. Jinhua wants to sell CKD vehicles in China. Associated Press reports that this partnership is actually between Jinhua Youngman and Proton’s child company Lotus Engineering, and will involve jointly designing, developing selling completely knocked down (CKD) vehicles in China. This feasibility study will last 120 days starting yesterday.
Proton targets 100,000 cars for the export market by 2008. Partnerships with Chinese and Indian companies will allow it access to more markets and hopefully help it achieve it’s 100,000 cars target.
Related Posts:
Proton and Chery discussing two-way partnership
Proton to announce tie-up with Chinese firm this week
Proton and Chery partnership
Proton and Jinhua Youngman Automobile in partnership
Chrysler is looking into using Chery Automobile to assemble a small car for the international non-US market. The car will be sold under the Dodge or Chrysler brand. This could allow Chrysler and Dodge to enter third-world markets like South East Asia, which are not big fans of Chrysler’s big cars with huge fuel-guzzling engines.
Daimler Chrysler already has an existing partnership with a Chinese company, Beijing Automotive Industry Corp. The joint venture assembles SUVs for Daimler Chrysler and recently the Mercedes Benz E-Class. But the JV company lacks experience and skills to manufacture small cars, which Chery has.
Chrysler could be seeking to produce the Dodge Hornet concept, a small B-segment vehicle smaller than Dodge’s smallest car, the Dodge Neon. The Dodge Hornet Concept was shown at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2006.
More developments on Malaysia-China automotive industry relations. Previously there were rumours on Proton’s involvement with Jinhua Youngman and Chery. Jinhua Youngman was believed to have entered a deal with Proton to assemble Proton CKD kits in China and rebadge them as Jinhua cars.
Now there is news on talks between Proton and Chery Automotive Co Ltd for a two-way partnership which would allow Proton cars to be assembled for the growing Chinese market, as well as providing Chery a base for automotive assembly here in Malaysia. While Proton and Chery officials did not comment much on talks, word is that talks have advanced to a relatively advanced stage although no final agreement has been reached yet.
The outcome of this would likely be Proton CKD kits assembled at Chery facilities for the Chinese market, and Chery CKD kits assembled at Proton’s facilities for the Malaysian market. But I wonder what of the NAP ruling regarding selling assembling capacity to 3rd party manufacturers.
Visionary Vehicles has brought in Chery’s first sedan for the US market – the Chery A520. The Chery A520 is part of the Chery A5 series, with the number 20 indicating a 2.0 litre engine. It is said that it’s based on an extended Volkswagen Golf Mk3 platform, something like an older Seat Toledo.
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A few days ago there were rumours on Proton partnering up with Jinhua Young Man Automobile for it’s maiden entry into the Chinese market.
Yesterday, industry sources were quoted to say Proton would be tieing up with Chery Automotive Co Ltd to produce cars in China. Sources report that Proton Managing Director Syed Zainal Abidin was in China last month and visited Chery’s factory. The source also said the Gen2, Wira and Savvy will be the first cars which Proton would assemble in China for the Chinese market.
Production will begin with a capacity of 50,000 cars a year and it could be increased to 200,000 a year in 3-4 years depending on response and whether Proton has enough models in it’s line-up.
Chery Automobile recently launched it’s first car the Chery A520 in the United States through Visionary Vehicles and is surrounded by a controversial shroud for it’s Chery QQ minicar, which is a completely 100% rip-off of the Chevy Spark, just one of the many acts of vehicle piracy in China.
All rumours from anonymous industry sources so far. Nothing official from Proton.
I posted on China’s various imitations of western and Japanese cars a long long time ago. One of the most blatant copies have been the Chevrolet Spark/Daewoo Matiz’s copy. Meet Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp’s Chevy QQ. It’s pretty hilarious really how they managed to transform Chevrolet’s pet name Chevy into Chery. The Chevrolet Spark is on sale here in Malaysia with an 800cc engine if I am not mistaken.
But do the imitations perform the same as the originals? Do Petaling Street Rolex watches last as long as the original? It depends on your luck really, but thankfully in the automotive world we have something called crasjh tests so we can at least measure a car’s safety performance.
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I previously blogged about China Pirates, where Chinese automobile makers were ripping off Japanese and other automobile manufacturers blatantly. Inside China they are virtually invulnerable. They rip off without a second thought, with the worst of worst case being the Chery QQ, a 100% copy of the Chevy Spark.
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