Chinese automaker Chery is planning to make cars in Spain, where the EV market is at just 12%, half that of Portugal and France. This could be Chery’s first manufacturing site in Europe.
It’s all a part of the Chinese brand’s ambitious plan to set up three brands in Europe and launch three recent models for every brand, all by 2026 – yet, unfortunately, Chery wants to bring ICE vehicles together with its low-cost EVs, including a luxury gas-burning SUV brand that it already sells in China. The automaker plans to launch its first EV in Germany by the primary half of this 12 months: the Omoda 5 EV, which is set to start at €37,000 (about $39,750).
Spain’s Industry Ministry said in a press release that the agreement could be formalized in the subsequent few days, with Chery planning to start production in Barcelona, according to Reuters. Given the slow uptake of electrical vehicles in Spain, Chery says it plans to make combustion engine, hybrid, and electric vehicles there.
According to Automotive News Europe, the talks are centered around Chery producing its cars at the previous Nissan plant, which shut down in 2021 and where 1,600 people lost their jobs, with the plan to bring no less than a few of those jobs back.
Whether or not Spain has offered any special public aid to sweeten the deal, they haven’t said, but Catalonia’s regional government is sending its senior business official to China to meet with Chery executives this week. Spain can be opening two tenders this 12 months for EV corporations to request a complete €1.7 billion in loans and grants for EV production, which is an element of the PERTE scheme of incentives that depend on European pandemic relief funds, according to Automotive News Europe.
The former Nissan plant was partially handed over to Spanish electric motorcycle company Silence, together with local engineering groups QEV and EV Motors, which planned to transform the factory right into a hub for EVs. EV Motors now has full corporate control of the hub and is involved in the talks with Chery, with sources telling Reuters that EV Motors also plans to produce EV trucks and vans under its Ebro brand there alongside Chery.
Back in March, Chery was reportedly in talks with Italy – one other European country where EVs have an incredibly low market share – about constructing a plant there, but sources say that those plans stalled and the corporate is moving ahead with Spain.
Electrek’s Take
Chery has said that offering a mixture of ICE and EVs is an element of its marketing strategy in Europe, giving the corporate flexibility in the numerous markets where EV uptake lags behind, mostly because governments have offered only minimal incentives compared to say, Germany.
Still, while Europe definitely doesn’t need ICE vehicles from China, Chinese EV expansion is well on its way, with BYD pushing international growth with its plans to construct an EV factory in Hungary, and other automakers are looking to set up production in Europe as well. Chinese corporations MG, BYD, and Chery have also been scouting sites in Mexico and talking to officials for higher access to the North American market. MG is planning to construct a $2 billion factory, while BYD is ramping up investments price a whole bunch of thousands and thousands for its own factory – actions which have set off alarm bells in Washington.
Europe, too, is considering retroactive tariffs on EVs coming from China after officially finding evidence that China has been heavily subsidizing the EVs it exports to Europe.
Photo: Chery
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Credit : electrek.co