China's Chery Shifts Global Strategy With Qoros Auto Brand

If you’re trying to sell a car, it helps if you’ve got an established brand to put on your hood ornament. Qoros, a joint venture between China's Chery Automobile and a subsidiary of Israel Corp., is planning to buck the system and put its first car on the market in China and Western Europe in 2013, according to EastDay.com.

First, though, the company has to build a car manufacturing plant, a process that is now underway and will produce 150,000 autos annually, EastDay notes.

The original plan was for Chery to provide its own designs for international release but things have shifted so that it is only a financial investor and the designs will be completely separate from the Chery brand, the Association Press reports.

The company wants to be “one of the first Chinese car makers to meet stringent 2013 Euro auto safety standards,” the AP notes, and will release a sedan in 2013. That will be followed up with a hatchback sedan and an SUV within two years, the AP notes with an electric vehicle also on the drawing board.

The Qoros name, by the way, is meant to represent "a company that stands for quality and works together like a chorus."