China's Dongfeng has started offering cars in Czechia and wants to sell 600 cars in 2022

by   CIJ News iDesk III
2021-09-22   08:42
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The Chinese carmaker Dongfeng has started offering cars and electric cars in the Czech Republic, next year it wants to sell 300 electric cars and the same number of petrol cars in the Czech Republic. It now has homologated three models including two petrol SUVs and one electric SUV. A sports electric car with an output of 510 kW is to come to the domestic market by the end of the year, and a luxury electric car by the middle of 2022. Representatives of the distributor stated this at today's press conference. Donfeng Motors is one of the three largest carmakers in China with an annual production of more than 3.5 million cars.

Distribution for the Czech Republic will be provided by Bidli, which has so far operated mainly on the real estate market, but also supplies photovoltaic power plants or sells energy. The cars will be offered in the car center in Vestec near Prague, where there is also a service, and at the Bidli branches, of which there are currently 35. The cars will also be sold on the Internet. Service in individual regions will be provided by contractual partners.

Dongfeng wants to compete on the Czech market mainly with price. It starts with the Glory 580 petrol model at CZK 599,900 and the Seres electric car at CZK 919,900. The basic model Glory 580 offers seven seats and is equipped with a petrol supercharged engine with a capacity of 1.5 liters and an output of 107 kW. The Seres 3 electric car has a range of 405 kilometers and a non-flammable battery with a capacity of 54 kWh.

"We are starting with more affordable cars and will gradually start offering higher lines," said Bidli CEO Jiří Lejnar. According to him, the Glory SUV will compete, for example, with the domestic Škoda Kodiaq, electric cars with electric cars Hyundai and Kia or the Škoda Enyaq.

Bidli will have a larger number of cars with the maximum possible equipment in stock, if the customer does not choose from stock cars, the delivery time will be three to four months.

According to František Dvořák, an automotive expert from the iDNES.cz website said, "this is another attempt, of which there have been several in the past. However, according to him, the electric model in particular could have a chance, especially if the purchase of battery cars is subsidized, as the state promises. "In Norway, another Chinese electric car manufacturer has already successfully settled in this way. In the Czech Republic, an importer might want to take advantage of the crisis in the supply of new cars. If cars are available immediately, it could gain some customers.Traditionally, they are rather distrustful of unknown brands, especially when it comes to an expensive thing like a car. Maybe they can break into the fleet of a smaller company."

Donfeng Motors is one of the three largest automakers in China with more than 50 years of tradition in the automotive segment. In Asia, it has joint ventures with Honda, Nissan and Infiniti. It has three production plants and four development centers and employs 12,400 people. It offers various models of cars, SUVs, small trucks, trucks and buses with combustion or electric drive. Last year, it reported a turnover of USD 68 billion (about 1.5 trillion crowns).

Source: CTK