Subaru May Partner With Chinese Automaker Chery
The automotive market in China right now is an interesting one, with obviously a huge consumer base to pick and choose from. It’s common knowledge that Chinese manufacturers still aren’t up to par with American, Japanese or European counterparts, and some of the major players continue to look at forming partnerships with established brands.
Chinese automaker Chery, has one of the best-selling economy cars in China, the Chery QQ, has been trying to form a joint venture with Subaru for quite some time now. But China’s National Development and Reform Commission opposed the joint venture due to the fact that Subaru is owned by Toyota and Toyota already has two joint ventures in China (the maximum allowed). It’s worth arguing though that Toyota only holds 16.5-percent of Subaru’s parent group, Fuji Heavy Industries, shares.
So in order for the joint venture to go through, Subaru would have to let Chery take the reins in China, meaning that every Subaru would be sold with a Chery badge and through a Chery-run dealer. Whether or not Subaru will agree to this has remains to be seen.
This isn’t the first time Chery has tried to team up with a foreign automaker, having inked failed deals in the past with Chrysler and Fiat.
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