On March 26th, 2010, there came the good news from Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. that the two millionth Chery-branded automobile rolled off the production line. Since Chery Automobile launched their first automobile in the year 2001, they have accumulated so much in these several years to become the number one in terms of automobile production and sales in mainland China. Till now, Chery Automobile was also the first enterprise manufacturing self-owned brand passenger cars that achieved production volume of two million sets in domestic industry. The accomplishment was noteworthy and should not be submerged. 

On the aspects of forklift market, this year, Anhui forklift market represented mainly by Heli forklifts enjoyed an uprising momentum. In the first quarter, it was computed that the production and sales amount of HELI forklifts had exceeded 10,000 sets, undertaking an increase larger than 60% when compared with that of the same period last year. Anhui Jianghuai Yinlian Heavy-Duty Construction Machine Co., Ltd. (Jianghuai Heavy-Duty for short, as a subsidiary of Anhui Jianghuai Automotive Group Co., Ltd., was established formally in September, 2003. Jianghuai Heavy-Duty launched their forklift products with quality level closely to the world class in just one year; and in the next year, Jianghuai Heavy-Duty realized to produce and sell forklifts more than 400 sets, successfully accomplishing their entrance into forklift market, which left to the industry not only surprise and praise, but also in terms of the positive explosion to the resource integration, capacity enlargement and self innovation. 

In recent time, the journalist from Chinaforklift.com (www.chinaforklift.com, English version: www.forkliftnet.com) received the latest news, saying that Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. headquartered in Wuhu, Anhui Province would also march toward forklift manufacturing industry. 

Along with the global financial crisis hitting its bottom line and the economy recovering gradually, the forklift industry in China had a brilliant and prospective future driven by the fast development of economy and large market demand as well as large market capacity; however, there were also risks and fierce competition hidden behind such satisfactory factors on the market. 

After trying for several times, Chinaforklift.com (www.chinaforklift.com, English version: www.forkliftnet.com) got the contact through telephone with Mr. Tao Fangwu, the supervisor in charge of forklift department in Chery Automobile. Mr. Tao used to work as one of the managers in famous domestic forklift companies such as Heli and Jianghuai, who was respected to be one of the grand figures when referring to forklift industry in China. 　

“We are now engaged in planning and preparing items used for forklift manufacturing. It was expected that the factory could be put into production in May,” Mr. Tao said during the interview, “We will produce both electric and internal combustion forklifts.” When asked the ongoing situation of forklift department of Chery in details as well as the anticipated annual production amount, Mr. Tao said that it was still not the time to disclose right now. 

Viewing this from global stage, the news that the giants in the field of automobile entered forklift manufacturing was no longer fresh anyway. Among the world famous industrial truck manufacturers, there are Toyota, Mitsubishi and Nissan in Japan, Hyundai, Daewoo (acquired by Doosan) and Samsung in South Korea, VOLTA (a member of Indian automobile giant TATA) in India, and now Jianghuai and Chery in China. It was considerable to notice that in the scope of the whole world, such kind of phenomenon as enterprises from automobile industry entered forklift manufacturing market only appeared in Asian countries. 　

Where there is demand, there is market. Maybe the similar news will continue to be heard in the future on Chinese market. Pulled by the demand of markets at home and abroad, foreign forklift brands rooting in China together with the emergence of domestic forklift brands will go further to search for new balancing points, and the forklift industry around the world will also face with a new circle of challenges and reorganization as well. 

Chinaforklift.com (www.chinaforklift.com, English version: www.forkliftnet.com) will keep following up to report more about the actions of Chery on forklifts manufacturing. 

About Chery 

Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. was founded in 1997 by five of Anhui’s local state owned investment companies with an initial capitalization of RMB 3.2 billion. Plant construction commenced on March 18, 1997 in Wuhu, Anhui Province, China. The first car came off the production line on December 18, 1999. And on August 22, 2007, the one-millionth car of Chery rolled out the assembly line successfully, which signifies that Chery has already achieved its first-stage goal in the process of building a successful independent Chinese brand, and is now on its way to create a world famous brand through opening and innovation.

 In 2006, Chery achieved a total sales volume of 305,200 units, representing an increase rate of 61.5% over 2005; and in 2007, the annual sales volume of Chery reached 381,000 units, increasing by 24.8% compared with 2006. In 2007 also, Chery achieved an annual export volume of 119,800 units. As a result, the overseas sales of Chery had doubled again with an increase rate of 132%, ranking 1st for 5 consecutive years in car export in China.