China's Chery Automobile saw its millionth car roll off the assembly line Aug. 22, becoming the first home-grown auto maker to reach that milestone, the company said. The fast-growing private automaker, established a decade ago, said that it took six years to make the first half million cars and only one and a half for the second.
Chery, based in the eastern province of Anhui, currently has an annual capacity of 400,000 units and expects to add another 250,000-300,000 units after a new plant starts operation in October.
Chery sold 197,923 units in the seven months until July, fourth on the domestic market after FAW-VW and Shanghai VW, two Chinese joint ventures of Germany's Volkswagen AG, and Shanghai GM, a General Motors joint venture.
The company agreed earlier this month to create a joint factory with Italian conglomerate Fiat and inked a deal in July with Chrysler to make small cars under the American brand for export.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2007
