Chery's chairman Yin visits Taiwan.

Taipei, Oct. 21, 2009 (CENS)--Yin Tongyao, chairman of mainland China-based automaker Chery Automobile Co., Ltd., recently visited Taiwan to participate in a distributors meeting organized by its local agent Prince Motor.

Yin also visited some automotive-electronics companies on the island, finding out some potential parts suppliers.

Industry sources said that Yin originally planned to visit Taiwan in July, but his trip was delayed by Prince Motors's financial problems, which also postponed Chery's product presentation on the island.

The first few models of Chery's passenger cars will be debuted at the year-end auto show, according to Prince Motor.

Industry sources said that Yin also hopes to utilize Taiwan's strong automotive-electronics R&D capability to help his company develop electric vehicles (EVs).

Some domestic automakers guessed that Chery might follow the same partnership mode between local Yulon Group and Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. of China by supplying the vehicle platform while commissioning some Taiwanese partners to develop automotive-electronics systems or EV systems for making car models sold in Taiwan and China.

The Yulon-Geely tie-up is expected to pull ahead Chery's project. Geely's first car model for local assembly in Taiwan, the 1,300cc m'car TU1, has won relevant certifications and would be vended under the new brand "to be" in Taiwan by year-end.

Industry insiders said that Yulon might modify TU1's original five-door (hatchback) design into four-door type so as to meet the preferred styling by local consumers.