Chery chases world dominance

Many auto companies are considered as "carmaker giants," and it seems that Chery wants to take that moniker to a new level. 

Chery boasted that it has more than 20 years of automotive research and development tucked under its belt, an R&D team composed of 5,000 people, and presence in 80-plus countries and regions with 1,500 sales outlets.

All of these numbers translate to Chery's claimed sales figure of nine million cars sold worldwide. 

The Chinese company's ventures include developing voice control, facial recognition, augmented reality navigation, and internet technology for its products. Chery is also aiming to advance in autonomous driving in 2025. 

There's an interesting story behind the carmaker that's currently carrying such achievements and ambitions. 

Chery was founded in 1997 in Wuhu,  Anhui Province, China, and rolled out its first product in 1999 in the form of the Fengyun sedan. Following the appreciable success of the first model, Chery then began producing the QQ in 2003, and the Cowin and Easter sedans around the same time. 

If the peculiarly named QQ model rings a bell, it's because this little hatchback is perhaps the most memorable model Chery launched for the Philippine market sometime in the late 2000s.

To steal sales away from the popular Japanese and established Korean makes at the time, Chery marketed the QQ's cute looks — and more importantly, its brand-new, off-the-showroom price that matched many a second-hand vehicle. 

A good number of consumers — including a popular soda brand — were attracted to the QQ's selling points. However, their interest seemed to be brief, as their cutesy little cars reportedly exhibited finicky reliability soon after they were driven off the showrooms.

What also didn't help the QQ's cause was its design, which was allegedly similar to a model from an American brand. The same design and build-quality quirks also appeared in the QQ's stablemate, the Tiggo compact SUV. 

Around the same time with Chery's local arrival, the carmaker seemed to fare better in other countries. In its website, Chery shared that it has done a "globalization strategy" in which it exports complete vehicles, parts, engines, manufacturing technology. and equipment to the global market. 

Chery sells its products and has built production facilities in Brazil, Egypt, Thailand, and Ukraine, to name a few territories. The brand was also considered as the 10th largest China-based automaker in 2012. 

In the same year, Chery and Jaguar Land Rover jointly established the company Chery Jaguar Land Rover Motors. (In China, the government encourages foreign carmakers to collaborate with local companies, when the former intends to manufacture in the country). 

On its own, Chery is offering a selection of attractive vehicles today. Among these cars are crossovers of varying sizes and seating capacities which carry the longstanding name of Tiggo (but without the faults inherent in the previous generation).

Chery marked its comeback in the Philippines with distributor United Asia Automotive Group, Inc. (UAAGI), which carries a lineup composed of the Tiggo 2, Tiggo 5X, Tiggo 7, and Tiggo 8. The distributor's latest product, the Chery Tiggo 2 Pro, possesses different styling and upscale features over the standard Tiggo 2.

Aside from style and substance, the Tiggo 2 Pro, along with its stablemates, come with industry-leading warranty and after-sales perks. We're talking about the standard 10-year/one-million-kilometer engine warranty, a five-year/150,000-km general vehicle warranty, free three years preventive maintenance service and roadside assistance.

While all of the above will surely reassure buyers, the current crop of Chery cars seem be made with high-quality. Chery has indeed come a long way. It won't be surprising if it reaches "carmaker giant" status soon. 

Photos from Chery, United Asia Automotive Group, Inc. (UAAGI)