Chinese automaker Qoros expects Europe to account for more than 10 percent of its overall sales, the company’s head of sales said. “Europe will play an important role,” Stefano Villanti, Qoros’ head of sales said.
Qoros, a 50-50 joint venture between Chinese carmaker Chery Automobile and Israel Corporation, has been selling cars in Slovakia for seven months now. The Central European country is the automaker’s test market.
“Slovakia is a sedan market, and our first car was a sedan,” Villanti explained the choice of the country as a test market for the region. Sales will expand from Slovakia to other countries in central and eastern Europe, followed by Nordic countries and then all of Europe by 2016, Villanti told Autonewss Europe.
Qoros will add the 3 Hatch on the Slovak market later this year, while a crossover and an SUV with four-wheel-drive capability are also in the pipeline, Villanti said. The Qoros 3 Sedan is currently priced from €20,900 ($28,525) in Slovakia. “It’s not the lowest possible price, but it’s one of the best value cars,” Villanti says. Standard equipment even includes contract-free 3G Internet connectivity.
Qoros invested $2.5 billion (€1.89 billion) to build a lineup of five models, “a fraction” of what an established carmaker would have spent to achieve the same outcome, the executive said. Qoros builds its cars in a new factory north of Shanghai which has an initial capacity of 150,000 vehicles a year. However, output can be expanded to 250,000 or 300,000 if demand asks for it.
By Dan Mihalascu
PHOTO GALLERY
