Under the spotlight of the 2025 National People's Congress, the joint venture project between Chery Automobile and Spain's EBRO was mentioned as a "model of international cooperation" because it is the latest practice of Chinese auto companies from "product export" to "local symbiosis".
In this context, the 2025 National People's Congress listed Chery's Spanish project as a "model of international cooperation", which is like a shot in the arm. It not only shows a sample of China's automobile industry upgrade, but also reveals a feasible path to break the globalization dilemma - technology empowerment and local symbiosis.
Reverse joint venture: Technology export rewrites industry narrative
On a huge advertising screen on the streets of Barcelona, Spain, the EBRO S700 equipped with Chery's electric platform is passing through Gaudi's buildings, with the words "Powered by Chery" on the rear of the car complementing the spire of the Sagrada Familia.
The Ebro plant in Barcelona had been dormant for many years due to operational difficulties, but it was reborn in 2024 due to Chery's involvement. This cooperation subverted the traditional "market for technology" model. Chery activated Ebro's brand heritage with its self-developed electrification platform, and achieved the production of the first model S700 in just 7 months, increasing the localization rate of the factory to 80% and creating more than 1,000 jobs. Unlike simply building a factory, Chery chose to "revive" the century-old industrial symbol of Spain, deeply integrating technology output with cultural respect.
The cooperation between the two parties successfully combined Chery's technical expertise with Ebro's brand advantages. Under the premise of making full use of the original facilities and relatively low investment, Ebro, a brand widely loved by local people, has regained vitality and created a large number of jobs for the local area. The Spanish newspaper El País commented: "This is not a conquest by outsiders, but an injection of new soul into the old industrial area."
It can be said that this "technology investment + brand symbiosis" model provides a new path to break through the EU's anti-subsidy barriers. From a deeper level, technology output is only the "appearance", and civilized dialogue is the core. When Chinese automakers learn to tell win-win stories in a language that the other party can understand, the screws in European factories will also be able to twist out the torque of cultural identity.
Global Networking: From Adaptive Innovation to Ecological Reconstruction
In Chery's global footprint, the layout of more than 100 countries is not a simple copy.
Faced with the complex and ever-changing international market environment, Chery has always adhered to the "localization" strategy, and will "adapt to local conditions" to develop products according to the different environments, market conditions and consumer behavior habits of overseas markets, conduct in-depth research on local market demands, and flexibly adjust product strategies and marketing strategies. This "adapt to local conditions" strategy has enabled Chery Group to achieve overseas sales of more than 1.145 million vehicles in 2024, ranking first in exports among Chinese independent brand passenger car companies for 22 consecutive years.
What is more worth mentioning is that Chery is upgrading its "going overseas" to "entering the sea". For example, it has participated in earthquake relief in Turkey, promoted children's traffic safety education with public welfare organizations in Chile, and even invested 3.5 million US dollars to launch a global ecological protection project, integrating ESG into the brand genes.
Obviously, localization is not an option, but a law of survival. Only when the new-age giants from the East change from "outsiders" to "co-builders" can they grow in foreign soil.
Technology foundation: extreme breakthroughs under global standards
Supporting Chery's global ambition is its extreme pursuit of technological autonomy. For 28 years, Chery has always insisted on innovation-driven development, pursuing multiple technology routes such as fuel, pure electric, hybrid, and extended range, and continuously exploring intelligent technology fields such as smart driving and smart cockpit, and continuously producing new technologies and new products.
At the same time, Chery implements the same system and the same standard of quality management worldwide, and has established a strict global extreme working condition verification system, striving for excellence and ensuring that every car is a good car with global quality. This global R&D thinking has enabled Chery to simultaneously deploy global R&D centers and implement global integrated management, winning the ICQCC International Quality Gold Award seven times and reshaping the perception of "Made in China".
Whoever has the standard will win the world. Technical standards are the navigation chart of the new era. When Chinese automakers change from "catching up with standards" to "defining standards", the compass needle of the global market will eventually point to the East.
China's Answer from "Going Global" to "Entering the WTO"
As a leader in going global, Chery is well aware that true globalization is not the addition or subtraction of market share, but the multiplier effect of civilization value. When car companies become collaborators of social progress, commercial success will come naturally.
Chery's globalization practice reveals the solution for Chinese automakers to overcome the dual challenges - in the existing market, replacing price involution with technology premium; in the high-potential market, smoothing cultural barriers with ecological co-construction.
When European automakers were struggling with carbon emissions fines, Chery exported new energy technologies through a reverse joint venture model, alleviating Europe's pressure to reduce emissions and helping the industry upgrade. This strategic focus makes it valuable in the "Two Sessions Cases". It shows the evolution of Chinese automobiles from "product export" to "value co-creation".
When Chery engraved the slogan "In somewhere, for somewhere" at its Barcelona factory, this may be the answer to Chinese manufacturing going global: globalization is not a zero-sum game, but the beginning of jointly writing a new industrial civilization.
