Chrysler and China’s Chery Automobile partnership needs some time

After the break-up with Daimler AG early this year, Chrysler LLC has found a new alliance. China’s Chery Automobile and Chrysler LLC’s partnership are on the process but product cars of the collaboration may reach dealerships and showrooms not that soon according to one Chery executive.

Chery’s General Manager for international Operations. Lin Zhang said that their alliance with Chrysler LLC has just started and he refused to give information on when Chery-built Chryslers will be displayed in U.S. showrooms.

“We don’t have any kind of timetable yet for entry into the U.S. market,” Lin Zhang said. “We won’t come until we feel we’re ready,” he added.

In relation to the quality of Chinese made vehicles being questioned, Frank Klegon, Chrysler’s executive vice-president for vehicle development said that the vehicles do not yet meet the tough crash standards of U.S. authorities. Klegon added that the car to be built by Chery will need close supervision and assistance by Chrysler LLC.

“It will be a whole new vehicle,” he said. The smallish B-car from Chery will give Chrysler an entry into a growing market around the globe, including the U.S.

According to one Chrysler official last summer, Chrysler is hoping to sell almost 100,000 Chery-made vehicles in North America and Europe within three to four years. On the other hand, Lin Zhang said that Chery is on the process of constructing a 240,000-square-meter engineering center in Wuhu, China. Chery’s new facility will have a state-of-the art crash-test center which will go on operation by next year. According to the plan sketched by Chrysler and Chery, Klegon and Zhang suggested that it will take 36 months before their alliance to be in complete operation.

“It has very strong leadership and a very strong workforce,” Zhang said.

Locally, Chery had been recruiting 20,000 engineers and still going the extra miles to be China’s largest domestic car maker. With additional quality work force, Chery is proving that talent is one of their greatest strengths.

“It has very strong leadership and a very strong workforce,” Zhang said.