BUENOS AIRES: Chinese carmaker Chery plans to build a new assembly plant in Argentina in a joint project with the local Socma group, requiring a $170 million investment, a leading newspaper reported on Saturday.
Chery Automobile, which started selling cars overseas in 2002, is now China's biggest auto exporter Quoting a Socma executive, daily La Nacion said the Argentine plant would be built in the Buenos Aires suburb of Berazategui with an initial production capacity of 40,000 vehicles per year.
Capacity would rise to 70,000 in a second phase, the report said, adding that construction would start as soon as financing had been secured.
Car production is surging in Argentina due largely to strong demand from neighboring Brazil, where Chery started building a $400 million plant earlier this week.
Chery also assembles some 7,000 vehicles per year in neighboring Uruguay.
Argentine automobile output rose 24 percent in June from the previous year to 80,795 units, according to the private ADEFA industry group. Exports climbed 15 percent to 46,737 units last month.
Copyright Reuters, 2011
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