Chery at the forefront in technology-oriented enterprises
Over 19,000 patents empower ‘Technology Chery’
Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, December 14, 2020: Chery recently announced that to date, it has obtained 12,393 patents out of 19,191 patents filed, including 3,692 patents for invention, ranking the company as leaders among Chinese automakers.
Increasing patent applications and authorizations have shown Chery’s confidence in keeping core technologies firmly within its reach and the continuing innovation strength of ‘Technology Chery’. Chery owns nearly 30 national innovative enterprises, technical centers and laboratories, and has won the ‘National Science and Technology Progress Award’, ‘China Top 10 Innovative Enterprises’ as well as other honors.
“Since the company was founded, Chery has taken independent innovation as its core strategy, and invested five to seven percent of its annual revenues to independently develop core technologies restricting the development of China’s automotive industry,” said Dr. Gao Xinhua, president of Chery R&D center. “We are proud of this achievement that has allowed us to continuously develop an array of independent technologies and products and grow strong IP reserves.”
Up until the early 21st century, China had not yet independently developed its own car engine. Chery bet bit big by investing two billion Yuan on engine development in 2002, placing the company’s future on this investment. In 2003, the first generation of Chery ACTECO engines were born, becoming the manufacturer’s first self-owned engine, and inadvertently kicking off the race in engine development among Chinese automakers.
Chery is at the forefront of technology-oriented enterprises, as it is the first automotive company in China to master engine, automatic transmission, chassis, engine management system (EMS) and platform technology through independent innovation. With so many advancements, Chery protected its intellectual property by filing for patents in innovation since 1998 and forging its ‘Technology Chery’.
According to Li Yongjie, IP Director of Chery Holdings, “The large number of patents is far from being enough for the creation of a high-level IP system.” Therefore, Chery changed its IP protection focus from the number of patents to the quality of patents since early 2008.
According to the ‘2019 Auto Patent Innovation Index’ released by China Automotive Technology and Research Center Co., Ltd., Chery was ranked first among Chinese automakers in terms of patent quality which is the most valuable ranking category. Also, Chery was ranked among the world’s top manufacturers, and first in China, in the field of intelligent connection representing cutting-edge technologies
in 1999 the company began developing energy efficient and new energy vehicles making Chery one of China’s earliest developers. A new energy technology research and development system was created that covered vehicle integration, and core technology and parts development, and received 600 from 1,000 new energy patents filed, ranking amongst the top in the industry.
An example of this remarkable achievement is the lightweight all-aluminum body developed by Chery New Energy. 124 patents were applied for the body alone, and it features over 10 ‘Firsts’ in China, including the ‘first all-aluminum body production’ and ‘first integrated body-battery structure pack’.
To keep a competitive edge, Chery created a forward development system which continuously pushed for improvement in technology, quality, cost, delivery, and investment. According to a survey conducted by J.D.Power, a global automobile quality test institution, Chery was ranked 26th amongst global brands in terms of product quality, leading in standards among Chinese brands.
Chery has won the highest international QC award – Platinum Award at the 45th International Convention on Quality Control Circles (ICQCC 2020) which is known as the quality “Olympics”, ICQCC is one of the largest and most extensive and cohesive international QC conferences. Before this, Chery won the highest award during the 42nd convention in the Philippines, the 43rd convention in Singapore, and the 44th convention in Japan.
Winning the highest award of the “Olympics” of the QC circles four times can be attributed to Chery’s global quality control system as well as its many years’ adherence to the vision of “creating an outstanding brand with craftsmanship” and the philosophy of “placing customers first and taking the initiative to shoulder responsibilities.”
