Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. was founded in 1997 by five of Anhui's local state owned investment companies with an initial capitalization of RMB 1.752 billion. Plant construction commenced on March 18, 1997 in Wuhu, Anhui Province, China. The first car was produced on December 18, 1999. This represents a milestone in Chinese manufacturing history because it was the first car produced by a totally Chinese owned and managed company.
 
In 2007, Chery achieved a historical milestone reflecting the domestic emergence of China's growing industrial strength. In that year, it sold a total of 381,000 passenger cars in global market which represented an increase of 24.8% over the previous year, among which the overseas sales volume had doubled again with a sharp increase of 132%, reaching 119,800 units. This made Chery the 4th largest passenger vehicle manufacturer in China. This tremendous growth in domestic sales demonstrated that Chery could successfully compete in the domestic market which had been monopolized historically by manufacturers that were joint ventures between Chinese and foreign manufacturers. Chery is now the leader among independently owned, domestic automotive companies.
From the date of its founding, Chery has consistently followed its core marketing strategy. It has a long term objective of becoming a major exporter of passenger cars to the international market. To achieve that goal, it first determined that it needed to achieve a strong domestic presence that would secure a critical threshold of automotive production and proven manufacturing excellence. As it accomplished that objective, Chery commenced exporting completed vehicles into the retail international market in 2001 with its first exports going to Syria. It has now become China's first automotive manufacturer to sell cars, automotive parts and its own unique technology to foreign countries. Since that historical year, Chery has exported products to over 60 countries and regions though out the world. For the last five consecutive years, it has ranked number one as the leading Chinese exporter of passenger cars.
Chery now has the infrastructure and manufacturing capacity to achieve dramatic growth in automotive manufacturing and it has developed a cutting edge research and development capacity to ensure that it is competitive on a global scale. It has two automotive manufacturing plants, a transmission plant, an automotive engineering research institute and an automotive planning and design institute. It employs 23,000 people and has total assets of over RMB 22 billion. It has the annual production capacity to produce 650,000 completed vehicles, 400,000 engines and 300,000 transmissions. It produces ten vehicle models: Eastar, Cowin, Tiggo3, A5, V5, QQ3, QQ6, Karry, Riich2 and A1, along with each model's auxiliary engines, transmissions, and its other parts and components. These ten models range from sub compact cars to intermediate and full size passenger cars. Of equal importance, Chery has sufficient capital and resources to expand its production capacity to meet any foreseeable growth in sales volume. By the end of 2007, Chery was able to offer the most number of car models in the Chinese domestic market. This will attract an ever larger domestic interest in our cars and assure continued dramatic growth in domestic sales.
 
Before the first ground was broken to construct its first manufacturing facility, Chery established a company policy that valued innovative engineering design, manufacturing quality and consumer service and satisfaction more than any other objective. Its goal was to deliver to its buyers a broad range of models that were zero-defect products. It has trained every one of its employees to take pride in his work and the product he was manufacturing or the professional service he was offering to Chery's consumers. This corporate philosophy assured that Chery obtained ISO9001 International Quality System Certification in February, 2001. To further affirm the quality of its product lines, in October, 2002, it took the initiative in obtaining ISO/TS16949 Quality Management System Certification from Germany TUV. Its commitment to unrelenting quality control made all of cars Chery manufactures conform to Chinese national and international standards. When audited by an unannounced, surprise inspection by the State Bureau of Technical Supervision of China, the Bureau determined that Chery exceeded national standards for most of the detailed quality inspections.
 
Because of the years of dedication to quality and engineering design, Chery's brand identity and corporate image has soared domestically, and has opened the door to broad acceptance in the international market.
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