Chery Auto aims for 30% rise in auto exports this year

Reuters (Beijing) - Chery Automobile, China's largest indigenous car maker, aims to increase auto exports by over 30 percent this year, an executive said on Monday.

"Our target is to sell 120,000 vehicles in overseas markets this year," company spokesman Jin Yibo told Reuters on the phone. It sold 91,986 vehicles last year, mostly in developing nations in Southeast Asia, Middle East, South America and Africa. 

Chery, which started selling cars overseas in 2002, is now China's biggest auto exporter with year-to-date shipments exceeding 500,000 units.

It operates 16 assembly plants overseas, including a $400 million facility in Brazil that will eventually be capable of making 150,000 cars per year.

Chery has also been exploring joint venture opportunities with potential partners such as Fuji Heavy Industries' Subaru and Tata Motor's Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR).

Fuji said in December that the two companies were in the final stages of talks to build a 30 billion yen ($367 million) factory in the northern Chinese city of Dalian, initially building 50,000 mid-sized vehicles a year from 2013 and eventually raising that to 150,000. 

But Chery has so far declined to confirm deals with either Fuji or Tata. Tata also declined to comment on the JLR-Chery talks.