Chinese manufacturers are reaching Europe industrially. Following the announcement a few weeks ago by the electrical giant BYD of a factory in Hungary, which will be installed in Hungary, Chery, another Chinese car manufacturer, confirmed this Tuesday its next installation in Spain.
A joint venture with a Spanish group
The manufacturer will set up its first European factory at the former Nissan facility in Barcelona, as part of a joint venture with the Spanish group Ebro-EV Motors, the Spanish government announced on Tuesday. An “agreement” has been “entered into” between the two companies to produce cars in the former Nissan factory, located in the Barcelona free zone,” the Spanish Ministry of Industry said in a statement.
No details have been communicated at the moment about this agreement, which will be signed on Wednesday during a meeting in Madrid between the Minister of Industry, Jordi Hereu, and a Chery delegation, in the presence of members of the Generalitat. The Spanish authorities had reported in recent days of an imminent agreement after intensifying contacts with Chery. But doubts persisted about the Chinese group’s decision, since specialized media had mentioned a possible installation in Italy.
“After months of negotiations, we completed the reindustrialization” of the old Nissan plant “with the agreement between Ebro and Chery for the manufacture of thousands of vehicles,” he is happy. on the social network Roger Torrent, business manager of the Generalitat of Catalonia.
A context of tension between Brussels and Beijing
The former Nissan plant, where 3,000 people worked, closed in December 2021. Part of this vast industrial complex was sold to motorcycle manufacturer Silence and EV Motors, but local authorities (in collaboration with EV Motors) were looking for another investor to relaunch completely the site.
Chery is the second Chinese manufacturer to announce its implementation in Europe, after the electric car champion BYD, which formalized the construction of its first European factory in Hungary in February. The latter will be operational within three years.
Chery’s decision comes in a context of tensions between Beijing and Brussels, which opened an investigation in early April into public subsidies granted by the Chinese authorities to electric cars, accused of distorting competition.
Chery, a state-owned automobile manufacturer
Founded in 1997, Chery is a state-owned enterprise. The brand, which claims to have sold 1.88 million passenger vehicles in 2023, was very popular about fifteen years ago in China, particularly with a small gasoline city car aimed at the local market. The brand now also produces electric cars.
Source: BFM TV
