Chery plans to export cars from Malaysia to India
If you were reading Indian Autos Blog yesterday, you would have known that the Chinese car companies are gearing up to enter mature markets and are improving products faster than the Koreans.
Chinese automaker Chery Auto (the Chinese partner of Jaguar Land Rover) plans to invest US$78.7m (4.5 billion rupees) over a 5 year period to set up a plant in Malaysia to serve right hand drive markets. Chery aims to export cars to Indonesia, India, Thailand and Sri Lanka after capturing a good market share in Malaysia.
Interestingly, we must note that the IAB caught a Chery QQ3 being tested in Delhi last year.
The CEO of the Chinese carmaker said that they have already identified the location for the plant and are awaiting government approval. They also said that the first phase of plant will be ready by 2015. The plant will have the capacity to assemble 10,000 cars annually. When the size of the overseas market is expanded, the plant will be upgraded to make 20,000 cars annually.
It seems by the end of 2015, we might see some Chinese cars on Indian roads. Before the cars hit the showrooms, the companies would definitely test their models, so we hope to catch some mules.
Images - 2012 Chery QQ3 that is priced a little over the Tata Nano.
[Source - Auto.sohu.com]