China's Chery pushes global growth with dual Toyota-Tesla focus

China’s largest car exporter, Chery, is drawing on two contrasting strategies as it expands further into Europe and other international markets.

Chairman Yin Tongyue describes this approach as the “double T” strategy, inspired by Toyota and Tesla, which the company sees as models for its next stage of global growth, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.

“Toyota is the best one in the world, quality, service. Ok, everything is very good. So we try to follow Toyota to make our product is qualified, service is high standard, our customer is satisfied with us. Second one is Tesla, high innovation to catch the young customer's requirement, to catch low-carbon policy for many countries, especially for European,” Yin said.

Chery, alongside domestic competitors such as BYD and Geely, is playing a major role in reshaping the global automotive industry.

These companies are producing advanced electric vehicles at price points that traditional automakers are struggling to match.

According to industry data, Chery sold 2.8 million vehicles in 2025, marking an 8% increase compared to the previous year.

The company is now focusing on expanding its production footprint in Europe, including plans to increase capacity in Spain, where it already operates a joint venture.

It is also exploring opportunities to share manufacturing facilities with European carmakers.

While Chery has been widely recognized for its SUV lineup, it is now developing smaller models tailored to European consumers, who tend to prefer compact vehicles.

Founded in 1996 along the banks of the Yangtze River, the company produced its first car in 1999.

Originally branded as “Cheery,” it positioned itself as a cheerful, budget-friendly manufacturer.

In 2023, Chery introduced two new global brands, Omoda and Jaecoo, with the Jaecoo 7 SUV becoming the top-selling car in Britain in March.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev