Introduction: Starting from a barren beach in the northern suburb of Wuhu, Chery Holding Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Chery") won the Fortune Global 500 list for the first time in 2024, ranking 385th with its firm spirit of independent innovation and unremitting efforts. From the humble "grass house" to the modern production base, from the "Arabian Nights" dream to the pioneer leading the independent innovation of China automobile industry, Chery has not only become the most international representative of China automobile brands, but also written a legendary chapter for China and even the global automobile industry with its long-term development.
On August 5, 2024, Fortune magazine published the list of the world’s top 500 enterprises in 2024, and Chery Holding Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Chery") entered the list for the first time, ranking 385th. This achievement marks that Chery started from a "small grass house" in Wuhu and has grown into one of the most international automobile brands in China.
A single spark: the road to independent innovation
In the 1990s, the state implemented the strategic decision of developing and opening Pudong, and Anhui Province also started the "951 Project" accordingly. Yin Tongyue responded to the call and returned to Anhui from Changchun FAW, leading the team to start under extremely difficult conditions.Be China’s own car."The entrepreneurial journey,A world-class dream set sail from the "small grass house" on the wasteland in the northern suburb of Wuhu.
At that time, the automobile industry generally believed that "it is impossible for China people to develop their own cars". However, the Chery team overcame many difficulties and successfully rolled off the first self-developed engine on May 18, 1999, and launched the first Chery automobile on December 18 of the same year. In 2001, the first car "Fengyun" independently developed by Chery went on the market, which quickly became a dark horse in the market, breaking the view that China automobile industry could not independently develop cars.
Accumulation and thin hair: strategic transformation ushers in a highlight moment
In 2010, Chery chose strategic transformation at the peak of historical sales, preferring to sacrifice short-term sales and get rid of extensive development mode and take the road of high-quality development. After 10 years of system reform, process optimization and capital operation, Chery has ushered in a new round of growth after 2020.
Especially in the context of the overall negative growth of the automobile industry in the last three years, Chery has achieved a contrarian growth in sales volume. From 2021 to 2023, it achieved annual sales of 962,000 vehicles, 1.233 million vehicles and 1.881 million vehicles respectively, and its sales volume almost doubled in three years. Chery’s business has expanded to more than 80 countries and regions around the world, with a total of 14.2 million automobile users, including 3.9 million overseas users, ranking first in the export of China brand passenger cars for 21 consecutive years.
Innovation-driven: technology supports brand upward
Chery always regards independent innovation as the core strategy of development, and is committed to creating "technical Chery" and "innovative Chery". From the initial engine, gearbox, chassis to today’s chips, batteries, software, operating system, smart cockpit, cloud platform, algorithms, etc., Chery has an all-round layout in multiple tracks. By 2024, Chery had applied for more than 31,000 patents and granted more than 19,000 patents, and won many national science and technology awards.
In order to further enhance its innovation ability, Chery has introduced many top talents around the world, formed a strong R&D team and established a network of R&D centers all over the world. And established cooperative relations with universities and scientific research institutions, forming a strong open innovation system. These measures enable Chery to continuously introduce innovative products and technologies that meet the market demand, including high-performance pure electric platform E0X and Kunpeng super hybrid C-DM technology.
With the advent of new energy and intelligent networking era, Chery has comprehensively laid out the "Eta Ursae Majoris 2025" forward-looking technology strategy, and plans to invest more than 100 billion yuan in core technology research and development in the next five years to upgrade a number of key technologies. These technological research and development not only meet the needs of the domestic market, but also meet the needs of globalization. Chery’s new energy products have achieved flexible development, with various technical routes such as pure electricity, hybrid, extended range and hydrogen energy, forming three new energy sequences of Chery Fengyun, Xingtu Xingyu, Jietu Shanhai and iCAR pure electricity brand. Different brands have different characteristics and positioning, creating different user experiences, and creating new energy vehicles that are welcomed by the market, such as Fengyun A8, Fengyun T9, Fengyun T10, Xingyuan ES, Xingyuan ET, Jietu Shanhai T2, iCAR 03, and Exploration 06 C-DM.
Corporate citizenship: making the world a better place
Since the first batch of 10 Fengyun cars were exported in 2001, Chery has opened the road to internationalization. For more than 20 years, Chery has continuously expanded its overseas influence from "going out" to "going in" and then "going up". Chery adheres to the globalization concept of "In somewhere, for somewhere" and is committed to becoming an overseas local contributor and an outstanding corporate citizen. Whether facing major disasters at home or emergencies overseas, Chery always lends a helping hand at the first time. For example, after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Turkey in 2023, Chery Turkey quickly responded and became the first China automobile company to participate in the rescue. In addition, Chery donated US$ 6 million to UNICEF to support international children’s education programs, and cooperated with IUCN to jointly promote environmental protection.
Today, Chery has become a world-class brand, not only leading in technology and products, but also setting an example in social responsibility. Looking forward to the future, Chery will continue to adhere to the "four-way" development strategy of brand up, market outward, technology to the future and industry to the whole value chain, and strive to make the world better because of Chery!
Conclusion:The success of Chery lies not only in the competitiveness of its products, but also in its long-term development strategy. From "Little Grass House" to the top 500 in the world,Chery always insists on technological innovation as the core.And constantly promote industrial upgrading and brand promotion, and finallyRealized the leap-forward growth.. In the future, Chery will continue to adhere to the strategic direction of brand orientation, market orientation and technology orientation, and contribute to the development of China and even the global automobile industry.
From Chery’s growth story, we can easily see that only by continuous technological innovation and firm long-term brand strategy can we gain a foothold in the highly competitive automobile industry and succeed in the global market.
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