Qoros: new luxury Chinese car brand to debut at Geneva

Formed through a partnership between China's largest independent car maker, Chery Automobile, and global industrial holding company Israel Corporation, Qoros is aiming to blend the appeal of European design influence, high quality components and strong safety credentials with benefits of low-cost Chinese assembly in its new vehicle range.

Qoros spokesman Michael Zhang said the company stood "first and foremost for a strong commitment to product and service quality."

"This will be delivered by a close team working throughout the organisation, with all functions coordinated like a well-orchestrated chorus," Zhang said.

The new vehicle architecture will enable a rapid rollout of new models and variants including electric vehicles and hybrids. The company says new models and variants will be rolled out almost every six months following the brand's 2013 introduction.

Qoros will launch the brand with a compact four-door sedan penned by veteran designer Gert Volker Hilderbrand, the former design director for Mini.

Hilderbrand has been appointed as the executive director of design at Qoros and is developing “a design language inspired by modern European tastes”.

The Qoros sedan will feature interior space comparable to a larger car, but will be sold in the compact or C-segment in China and Europe, with sales commencing in China by end of 2013 and in Europe at the start of 2014.

Qoros vehicles will also be engineered to the highest quality, safety and environmental standards in order to achieve maximum safety ratings from Euro NCAP crash tests.

In addition to a new design language, Qoros vehicles will be distinguished by a strong focus on state-of-the-art technology and high levels of user-friendly in-car connectivity to compare with luxury European marques.

Qoros's headquarters are in Changshu in eastern China and the company has another central office in Shanghai.

A new production facility is currently under construction, which will have an annual capacity of between 150,000 and 450,000 cars.

Leading the executive team is Qoros chairman and president Guo Qian, who is also the chief operating officer of Chery Group, and vice chairman Volker Steinwascher, the former vice chairman of Volkswagen in America.