Chery expects to raise sales with early local production

Despite the prospect of strong retraction in the automotive market, Chery predicts growth in Brazil due to the start of local production. The projection of Chinese brand is close with 2015 25 thousand units sold, compared to 9 thousand commercialized in 2014.
"The fall of the market makes room for new entrants," said this Tuesday (14) the Chery's Sales Director in Brazil, Filipe Pereira. According to the Executive, last year the brand recorded a growth of 18% even before the indentation of almost 7% of the automotive sector as a whole.
The Vice President of Chery in the country, Luis Curi, said the automaker's expectation was of a larger volume of sales for this year, around 30 thousand units.
"The economy is really bad and the credit is still quite selective" evaluated.
Chery is ramped up (evolution) in its plant in Jacareí, in the region of Vale do Paraíba, in São Paulo, which will have capacity of 150 thousand units annually. The first Chinese car factory in Brazil was officially opened in August last year, but started to operate on the last day April 6, producing the compact Celer. The model was released nationally last and must represent around 40% of the sales of the brand in the country.
"The Celer is a car more prepared for the Brazilian soil", ensures Curi. The automaker continues on his journey to win the Brazilian resistance to Chinese car. According to the Director of quality of the brand, Luciano Resner, the number of local suppliers is growing.
"We have a strong work of nationalization and already established partnerships with local renowned vendors," commented. According to him, names like Pirelli, Bosch, Delphi, Maxion, among others, already provide for the cars produced in Jacareí.
Curi adds that from the second half of the year, Chery must start producing locally the new QQ subcompact, which can represent up to half of the automaker's total sales in Brazil.
Price
The new compact manufactured by Chinese company in Brazil is already on sale in the brand's dealers network. The model is presented with suggested retail price of $ 38,990 .00 (the hatch version) and R $ 39,990 .00 (Sedan). The automaker's goal is to fight for the largest market in the country, the compact, which represents about 70% of total sales.
"The Celer is a great example of how Chery has adapted to the Brazilian market," says the Chairman of the automaker in the country, Roger Peng.
Chery began operations in Brazil in 2009 as an importer, when he announced that would invest about r $ 1.2 billion to produce in the country.
Impasse
For almost 10 days, Chery in Jacareí employees are on strike. According to the Steelworkers Union of São José dos Campos (SP) and region, the automaker fail to comply with the collective agreement of category and in a meeting held yesterday, the automaker's proposal was rejected.
The Union President, Antonio Ferreira de Barros, States that employees will remain on strike until the "improving working conditions and wages." According to him, the plant produced about 400 vehicles a day currently.
Curi justifies that the automaker has been trying to negotiate with the Union and that the approval of the factory only came out in January of this year. "So we had no way to negotiate before," he says.
After the release of Celer, Curi followed yesterday for a date in Jacareí for working on creating an automotive hub in the city. The Executive avoided providing more details on the subject, but ensures that it will be a "big step" for the automaker.