Chinese sport-utility vehicle maker Jetour aims to more than triple its sales to 2 million units by 2030, with half of that from overseas, a top executive told Reuters on Friday, as China’s automakers race to expand globally. “We’ll maintain our competition in the China market, but we are more focused on the international market,” Jetour International President Ke Chuandeng said on the sidelines of the Beijing Auto Show. “The international market will provide more opportunity.”
Jetour is part of the Chery automotive group. Last year Jetour’s sales rose almost 11 per cent to 620,000 vehicles, with about 40 per cent from overseas markets, Ke said. Jetour launched operations in Brazil last month and in Poland in September. Ke said the automaker planned to start sales in Australia and in a couple more European markets before the end of the year. China is the world’s largest car market but competition is intense and demand is expected to remain flat or slightly down for the next couple of years. In order to grow, dozens of the country’s automakers have embarked on ambitious overseas expansion plans. This week, state-owned automakers Changan and Dongfeng joined a growing list of firms looking beyond China for growth.
“In China, the competition has become more fierce,” Ke said. “So now also all of the Chinese brands are focused on not only the domestic market, but mainly on international markets.”
While many Chinese automakers have focused on fully electric cars and plug-in hybrids, Jetour has only just launched its first electric model, called the TX.
To remain competitive in China, Ke said Jetour would launch two to three new electric models every year moving forward.
“We have a very complete product lineup for the future,” he said. Ke added that Jetour would benefit from the economies of scale that come from being part of Chery, with smaller brands likely to struggle.
“There are so many brands in China, but we know that every year some of the brands will disappear,” Ke said.
