Chery Automobile Executive Vice President Zhang Guibing said in an October 23 interview with Bloomberg at the company's Wuhu headquarters that Chery is evaluating localized production in Canada, with paths including acquiring idle capacity of existing plants and cooperating with potential investors to build factories, and plans to formally start sales in Canada in 2027.
Zhang stressed that Canada is worth local manufacturing even without entering the US market. The policy backdrop is favorable: under a China-Canada agreement reached in January, the first year allows 49,000 China-made EVs to enjoy a 6.1% most-favored-nation tariff, with the quota rising each year. During her June visit to China, Canadian Industry Minister Mélanie Joly met representatives of BYD, Geely and Chery, with all sides expressing interest in exploring joint ventures.
Chery's going-global localization is accelerating: the company has set up a joint-venture plant in Spain, taken over Nissan's South Africa plant as an African manufacturing hub, and is in talks over using Nissan's Sunderland plant in the UK.
Chinese carmakers are increasingly answering trade barriers with local production while using overseas growth to offset intense domestic competition.
Image: Next-generation EV charging infrastructure. Source: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0).
