Chery sales to open this year

Although the Thai auto market looks bleak this year with a forecast for low sales by every major brand, Thai Yarnyon believes the market just might be ready for the Chinese brand, Chery. It will commence during the year.

The company will venture into the business with the CP (Charoen Pokphand) Group. While Thai Yarnyon will be responsible for administration and marketing, CP will take care of the finance and also be the liaison between Chery Thailand and Chery China.

Bt200 million has been invested in Chery Thailand, and the companies each hold 50 per cent of the local unit.

Three models will be launched in Thailand: the QQ, Tiggo and Cross. The company hopes to sell 3,000 to 5,000 units per year.

Chery produces a total of 380,000 vehicles, which are both exported and sold in the Chinese market.

Thai Yarnyon currently has two main businesses. The first is as the distributor of Volkswagen (VW) and Chery in Thailand, and the second is a manufacturing site in Lat Krabang that is most likely to produce Chery models in the future.

Initially, all Chery models sold in Thailand will be imported.

"We currently have dealerships for BMW, VW and Mitsubishi. In the future, we plan to expand our dealerships to other brands. After strengthening our manufacturing site and expanding our business, we plan to list the company on the stock exchange," said Vithit Leenutaphong, president of Thai Yarnyon.

The company has 11 showrooms nationwide. Seven of these are for VW, three are for BMW and the other is for Mitsubishi.

Vithit did not state which additional brands the company would choose for dealerships, but 20-30 new dealerships are planned over the next few years.

Thai Yarnyon hopes to sell 950 VWs this year. Of this total, 500 will be sales of the Caravelle van and the remainder will be for sedans. The company plans to launch the Passat, Scirocco, Beetle and Golf models in Thailand.