Chery starts to produce cars in Uruguay joint venture

Shanghai, November 16 (Gasgoo.com) - Chinese automaker Chery started to produce its first model a luxury SUV named Tiggo in its joint venture in Montevideo of Uruguay, while the construction of joint venture is still under way, the company said today.

 

"The construction of the assembly plant is still going on strictly as planned in the timetable outlined in the agreement between Chery and its Argentine partner, Grupo Socma,” Chery’s spokesman told Gasgoo.com. The total investment of the project amounts to about $100 million, of which Chery holds 51 percent stake and Grupo Socma 49 percent.

 

Starting in May, 2007, Chery began to produce Tiggo and sell the model in the “Common Market the South America”, known as Mercosur. The common market includes Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay Venezuela, but Brazil is not part of the trading bloc. The joint venture also has a plan to produce a compact car known as QQ for the low-end segment of the common market. Both Tiggo and QQ are popular local brands in Chinese market.

 

Argentina, together with its neighboring countries, has become increasingly more attractive to global auto makers. Chery, an emerging power in the automotive world, has not been recognized as a serious challenger by century old global giants, like General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen and PSA.