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order , the rural Anhui based Chery ranks quite low . While the more established stateowned FAW and SAIC enjoy favourable ties with the Chinese central government and partnership with major global brands like GM and VW , with much of China ’ s domestic market closed to Chery .
As local governments of economic centres such as Beijing , Shanghai and Changchun have direct ownership in BAIC , SAIC and FAW respectively , independent car makers like Chery have to expand to markets outside of China .
Without the privilege that some of the bigger Chinese
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players enjoy , Chery has been focusing on growing the export market since the early days of its inception in 1997 .
The company is headed by Yin Tongyue , who grew up in a poor farming village in Anhui before working for FAW and VW as an engineer . In 1995 , he returned to his birth place of Anhui to setup Chery and turned it into an exporter of 200,000 plus cars last year . Chery ’ s exports have surged by an average of 163 per cent annually since 2001 .
Like Chery , Geely is privately owned . The company
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recently made headlines by acquiring ailing Swedish car maker Volvo Cars from Ford . Last year , Geely exported 100,300 cars , mainly to Russia , Algeria , Iraq , Iran and Chile .
Meanwhile , 4x4 specialist Great Wall Motors is making inroads into the Asia Pacific region .
In Australia , Great Wall Wingle has overtaken the Isuzu D-Max in the pick-up truck segment , while the Haval is an increasingly common sight , usually driven by tradesmen . In terms of total vehicle
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sales in Australia , Great Wall ended 2012 just 5,000 cars shy from Suzuki , but ahead of Jeep .
In February last year , Great Wall Motor ( GWM ) became the first Chinese car maker to open a plant in Europe . GWM ’ s plant in Lovech , Bulgaria has the capacity to supply up to 50,000 cars per year to the European market .
The Bulgarian plant is currently producing Wingle ( Steed ) pick-up , Hover H5 SUV and C10 hatchback . The C20R crossover , and Haval H6 SUV will follow in the future .
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