From “Quantitative Change” to “Qualitative Change”

J.D. Power released its 2020 China Initial Quality Study (IQS) report and 2020 China Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS) report in late 2020. According to the reports, Chery has reached industrial levels whether in new vehicle quality or in vehicle reliability. After years of strategic transformation, Chery has sped into a new stage of high-quality development, achieving a leap from “quantitative change” to “qualitative change”.

“Since 2010, Chery has made a switch from the pursuit of ‘sales, speed and scale’ to the pursuit of ‘quality, brand and return’ by establishing systems, improving quality and building brands, laying a solid foundation for a new leap,” said Yin Tongyue, Chairman of Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. To him, Chery’s high-quality development is inseparable from its sound systems and quality and brand pursuit.

Establishing systems to consolidate the foundation of high-quality development

Chery has created nine operation and management systems (strategic operation, quality management, product management, purchase management, production management, marketing management, financial management, HR management and IT management) through strategic transformation, laying a foundation for the high-quality development of Chery.

Chery has created an “excellent quality management system” by improving the process and standard of the “5+1” module. “5+1” refers to systematically organizing quality management activities of all departments and procedures to create one mutually coordinated and promoted quality assurance system with specific tasks, responsibilities and authorities. The system focuses on five processes of product realization: planning, design & development, supplier management, production and marketing service.

In terms of production, Chery is the first independent brand to establish a globally uniform production management system-CPS (Chery Production System) which further ensures the global quality of Chery’s products. Thanks to Chery’s total quality management system, Chery is far above the average industry level in terms of 3MIS IPTV (incidents per thousand vehicles within 3 months in service).

Improving quality to realize “zero defect”

At Chery, quality is not itself in the traditional sense but is reflected in full-process details. To Chery, any perception that can arouse customers’ desire to buy is related to quality, such as vision, smell, hearing, touch and feeling. For this reason, Chery requires employees to think and act from the perspective of customer perception to find out what they really like.

For example, Chery requires that employees should look into details such as consumers’ desired design, smell, sound and texture. The Chery Customer Product Audit (CCPA) system thus emerged to ensure conventional product quality and eliminate all the problems against customers’ perceived quality.

Building brands to guide Chinese brands in “going up”

With the advancement of systematization, Chery’s product quality has been widely recognized worldwide. In December 2020, as the only automaker among participating Chinese enterprises, Chery stood out from 577 QC teams from 15 countries in the final of 45th International Convention on Quality Control Circles (ICQCC 2020) to claim the top award-Platinum Award, winning the highest honor known as the quality “Olympics” for China for the fourth time.Besides, Chery has improved its overseas brand image through localized marketing. Before entering an overseas market, Chery would study local consumers’ behavioral habits and launch corresponding marketing measures to fully integrate itself into the local community. In Chile and other South American countries crazy for football, Chery has enhanced its brand popularity through sports marketing. UC Club sponsored by Chery won the Chilean Primera División title in February 2021, to boost Chery’s global sports marketing and further enhance its overseas image.

Remarkably, Chery was listed among “Chinese Enterprises with the Best Global Image” for the fifth time in 2020.

Quality is the basis of competition and brands are the key to competition. With the development of economic globalization, quality and brands have gradually become the core competitiveness of enterprises. Under this prevailing trend, Chery is achieving a leap from “quality orientation” to “brand orientation” with equal emphasis on quality.