Chinese car manufacturers are looking for ways to enter the European market: Chery will build a factory in Spain

Chery has formed a joint venture with Spain’s Ebro-EV Motors and will build a factory near Barcelona. This is the second Chinese manufacturer to announce that it is building a plant in Europe. In December, what BYD did, they build their factory in Hungary.

China’s Chery will not build a factory on a flat site, but will adapt the premises of the Nissan factory, which was closed three years ago, to produce its own cars. As many as 3,000 workers worked at the old Nissan factory, which ended up on the street after its closure in 2021.

As reported in the “Piko minutė” program of “Žinių radio” in this transaction, the Chinese concern owns the smaller part of the shares of the joint venture. It is a manufacturer in China characterized by cheap, simple and inexpensive cars.

According to the release, the joint factory will initially employ 1,250 workers, but when the factory is at full capacity, it will produce up to 150,000 units per year. cars.

At this rate, the plant should start operating from 2029, but the cars will start to be produced in the coming months. For now, they will be assembled from assemblies that will be shipped from China.

Later, the production will expand, even an engine production workshop will be established here. Chery will manufacture its Omoda cars here, but in the European market they will be sold under the Ebro brand.

The company was founded in China in 1997 and is owned by the Chinese government. It produced a total of almost 2 million cars last year and is best known as a small city car manufacturer.

Spain is the second country in Europe in terms of car production, right after Germany. Last year, almost 2 million new cars were produced in this country.

By setting up a factory in Spain, the Chinese are seeking to circumvent import duties, as importing cars from China would require a customs duty of at least 20 percent, and the European Union is considering raising it even further.

China is the largest producer and consumer of electric cars in the world. As many as two-thirds of the electric cars produced worldwide last year were sold in China.

The market is becoming crowded and the Chinese are very actively looking for new opportunities, and in Europe, cars of the same size are almost twice as expensive, so it is also a very attractive market for the Chinese.