Chery to assemble cars in Thailand

China's largest homegrown automobile manufacture, Chery Automobile Co., last Friday signed a cooperation agreement with Thai Chery Yarnyon to assemble Chinese cars in Thailand, according to state media Xinhua.

Under the agreement, Thai Chery Yarnyon will start to locally assemble Chery vehicles including QQ and Tiggo in SKD form, with an initial capacity of 5,000 vehicles. Production will be aimed at both domestic and SE Asian markets.

Thai Chery Yarnyon is jointly established by Thai Yarnyon Co, Yontrakit's subsidiary, and Thailand's agribusiness conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group.

Thai Yarnyon Co is the local distributor of such renowned European OEMs as Volkswagen, PSA and BMW in Thailand. It was reported to be involved in discussions with Chery on the investment plan exactly a year ago. The partners were planning to inject an investment of at least 1 billion Thai baht (US$32 million; €22 million) in the project.