Chery Joins Dakar Rally

For chery, the goal of brand building is much more significant than that of scale expansion – in both domestic and overseas markets. The brand is currently undergoing a transformation, and is making efforts to build a world class Chinese auto enterprise.
 
One move was to join the 32nd dakar rally in South America, a race witnessed by nearly 1,000 journalists and 200 million car sports fans from more than 180 countries. As the most dangerous top class race in the world, the dakar rally has become a ceremony, with drivers, racing teams and auto manufacturers challenging their limits.
 
For chery and two other Chinese car brands, the 2010 Dakar is more a milestone, a venue which saw the inclusion of 12 drivers and navigators, four racing cars, and four motorcycles from China – so far, this is the strongest lineup of “Chinese teams” in dakar rally.
 
It is the first time that Chinese independent auto brands have participated in the annual expedition of global established brands. Among the three Chinese teams, chery Rely is the only one which pitted two racing vehicles, boasting also of a powerful technical and supporting team.
 
The racing vehicles is the independently developed Rely X5, with Lu Ningjun, the six-time Dakar veteran as driver no.1, and Jiang Yaohuan, the new champion of Chinese domestic rallies as driver no. 2. The two finished 28th and 29th respectively, leading other Chinese teams in the competition.
 
For the Chinese auto industry, dakar rally is a brilliant debut, as well as a new start: After Chinese vehicle production and sales became No. 1 in the world in 2009, improvement of product quality, consolidation and development of overseas markets and promotion of influence in global auto industry have become the new objectives of Chinese independent auto brands.
 
As the biggest Chinese independent auto enterprise, chery’s development epitomized the development of Chinese cars. December 2009 marked the 10th anniversary of chery’s first car. Also by this month, chery, has achieved an annual sales volume of 500,000 units, marking them as the top producer among Chinese independent auto brands.
 
It was October last year when the brand announced that it will participate in the 32nd dakar rally through the Rely X5 – further establishing its mission to transform from an “independent Chinese brand” to an “international famous brand”.
 
On January this year, chery held a grand celebration for the Chinese Rely Fleet in Beijing. Mr. Yin Tongyue, chairman & general manager of chery said, “The dakar rally is an expedition, is the demonstration of chery’s 10-year efforts and confidence. The overseas development of chery may also be a difficult and arduous road like Dakar, but we have made full preparations. In these years, we have been making efforts to better our product and service. At present, the R & D, manufacture and sales of all our products are done in the perspective of global market.”