Chery Auto mulls plan to produce cars in Belarus

Shanghai, February 20 (Gasgoo.com) China's Chery Automobile Co and Belarus' MAZ will prepare a business plan to produce passenger vehicles in Belarus this April, reported Prime-Tass, quoting Sergei Varivoda, the chairman of the Council of Distributors of Chinese cars in Minsk, as saying on Thursday.

"Talks are taking place at government's level. Taking part in the negotiations was Belarus' First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko, representatives with the Industry Ministry and top management of MAZ and Chery Automobile," said Varivoda.

"They were satisfied with the preliminary results and agreed to prepare a business plan by April," Varivoda told the news agency. No production volumes or sales have been decided.

He believes that there would be a huge demand for locally built Chinese cars in Belarus, referring to a questionnaire survey which showed that the number of Belarusians willing to buy Belarus-built Chinese vehicles is 18 times as big as the number of those in favor of imported ones.

In 2008, a total of 800 Chinese vehicles were sold in Belarus, up 77.8% year-on-year.