Electrive — 2025-04-30
Automotive Industry
The news was first reported by Automotive News Europe, saying they spoke to ‘a person with knowledge of the situation.’ Chery has meanwhile confirmed that it is indeed considering production in Germany, but did not specifically name a possible deal with VW.
What is holding them back? It seems that the Chinese are mainly concerned with labour costs, labour unions, and regulatory requirements. “We need to study the feasibility plan, because in Germany, the situation is very, very complicated,” Charlie Zhang, vice president Chery International, told Automotive News Europe.
That the Volkswagen Group is looking into teaming up with a Chinese carmaker has previously been reported. At the beginning of the year, German media stated that the German carmaker could be looking into a joint venture with a Chinese brand, similar to Stellantis and Leapmotor. It would then build cars for its partner from the Far East at its locations. Top managers from the Group have since said that they would be open to offering surplus capacity in VW plants to Chinese manufacturers.
Meanwhile, the Chinese carmaker is looking to increase production in Spain, where it builds its Tiggo SUV range at a former Nissan plant in Barcelona. As Zhang told Automotive News Europe, Chery is looking to ramp-up production of the PHEV model and ‘will add electric versions of the model for the Omoda and Jaecoo brands for distribution across Europe’.
“We’re about to resume full-scale output by the end of this year,” he added. Barcelona has a potential annual capacity of 200,000.
It is also known that Chery is looking to expand its footprint in Europe. It is reportedly looking for a third-party partnership to produce and sell EVs in Turkey, though there has been some confusion as to who is planning to invest in a possible EV production facility. The Turkish presidency had initially claimed that Chery wanted to invest in a $1bn facility in the region of Samsun by the Black Sea with the capacity to manufacture 200,000 EVs per year – plans the carmaker denied.
But back to the possible partnership in Germany: as mentioned above, Chery could be looking to produce its Lepas brand in Germany. The latter just celebrated its global debut. The first vehicle will be the SUV L8, said to hit the road at the end of the year. While the current model features a petrol-drive, it seems that a PHEV and BEV version are in the pipeline.