China’s Qoros Cuts Jobs, Shifts Focus to EVs

Chinese carmaker Qoros Automotive Co. Ltd. tells Reuters it has reduced its workforce more than 20% to 1,900 people and is transitioning to become a “new-energy” vehicle maker.

Formed a decade ago, Qoros is co-owned by China’s Chery Automobile Co. and Israel Corp.’s Singapore-based Kenon Holdings Ltd. affiliate. The company has earned high quality scores for its gasoline-powered cars and Qoros 5 crossover vehicle (pictured). But Reuters says the company has missed sales targets and lost about 9.5 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) since its launch.

Vice Chairman Dan Cohen says Qoros predicts sales of its conventional vehicles will jump more than 50% to at least 37,000 units this year. The company has a factory in Changshu that can make 150,000 vehicles per year. Two years ago the carmaker suspended a push into the European market after reportedly selling only 51 cars there.

Reuters notes that Qoros faces increasing competitive pressure from Chinese rivals that are developing cheaper models with increasingly better quality. Cohen tells the news service that the company and Chery are discussing plans to leverage Chery’s larger scale and perhaps develop new platforms that could be put into production quickly.

Cohen says future Qoros models will be almost exclusively new-energy models. But Reuters notes that the transition will push the company into an equally competitive environment of conventional carmakers and startups that are rushing into China’s burgeoning electric vehicle market.