Chery Auto eyes annual capacity of 1-mln vehicles

Shanghai, January 25 (Gasgoo.com) China's leading private carmaker Chery Auto will add 400,000 units to its current capacity of 600,000 by setting up its new plants in Dalian and Wuhu cities, China Business News reported today.

Chery Auto and Dalian municipality broke ground in September 2009 to build a plant for producing Chery vehicles in the coastal city of northeast China. The 4.7 billion yuan ($688 mln) auto plant will produce 200,000 passenger cars annually for domestic and overseas markets.

As China has overtaken the United States as the world's largest auto market, Chery is starting construction of its 1.61 million square-meter new facility at a cost of 10 billion yuan in Anhui province's Wuhu city, where the carmaker is headquartered.

Last year Chery sold over 500,000 vehicles, becoming the best-selling home-grown brand. The company has set a target of selling 700,000 cars during 2010, but an insider said Chery aims to surpass BYD who sets the 2010 sales target of 800,000 units this year.

Chery Auto, a Chinese carmaker widely known for its low-end cars such as the QQ series, remains highly confident of its entry into the mid- to high-end segments in the fast-growing Chinese auto market.