Chery Automobile Posts Record-Breaking 2025 Results Driven by EVs and Global Expansion
Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. has had quite a year. The Chinese automaker just released its first annual report since going public, and the numbers tell a pretty compelling story โ record revenues, booming electric vehicle sales, and a growing footprint across international markets.
What makes this performance stand out is that Chery didn’t just get bigger. It got more profitable at the same time, which is something a lot of automakers struggle to pull off, especially in the middle of a major industry shift toward electric vehicles.
Sales and Revenue Cross Major Milestones | Chery Automobile
On the sales front, Chery moved 2.6314 million passenger vehicles under its own brand in 2025, which is 14.6% more than the year before. The real headline, though, is electric vehicles โ NEV sales jumped 72.5% to around 826,500 units. That’s not incremental growth. That’s a fundamental change in what Chery is selling.
Revenue for the year came in at 300.29 billion yuan, up 11.3% and crossing the 300 billion yuan mark for the first time in the company’s history. Profits grew even faster โ net profit rose 36.1% to 19.51 billion yuan, with margins climbing from 5.3% to 6.5%. Shareholder profit hit 19.019 billion yuan, a 34.6% year-on-year jump, which suggests the business isn’t just growing on paper โ it’s becoming genuinely more efficient.
Electric Vehicles Are No Longer Just a Side Story
A couple of years ago, Chery’s EV business was a small slice of its overall operations. That’s changed dramatically. In 2025, revenue from new energy vehicles reached 98.023 billion yuan โ a 66.3% increase โ and now makes up nearly one-third of total sales. A year prior, that figure sat at just 21.9%.
More importantly, the NEV division’s gross margins improved to 8.8%. That matters because it shows the company is moving past the phase where EVs were loss-leaders used to grab market share. The business is now making real money from them.
Chery isn’t betting on just one type of electric technology either. Its lineup spans hybrids, extended-range systems, fully battery-electric vehicles, and even hydrogen. Over 90% of models launched in 2025 had some form of electrified powertrain, all priced between 100,000 and 400,000 yuan โ squarely targeting everyday buyers rather than luxury niches.
Going Global, and Doing It Fast
Perhaps the most striking part of Chery’s 2025 story is how aggressively it expanded overseas. The company exported 1.2944 million vehicles โ up 33.2% โ which accounted for nearly half of all its sales. That’s a remarkable share for any automaker, let alone one that’s simultaneously managing rapid domestic growth.
Overseas revenue climbed 56% to 157.42 billion yuan, now making up 52.4% of total company income. Europe was a standout, with sales more than tripling and the brand entering 16 new countries including the UK and Italy. Right-hand-drive markets also saw triple-digit growth. And exports of electrified models grew more than fivefold โ a sign that international buyers aren’t just picking up Chery’s older combustion vehicles.
For the 23rd consecutive year, Chery held its position as China’s top passenger vehicle exporter by volume. That kind of consistency is hard to dismiss.
Pouring Money into Technology
Chery spent 14.715 billion yuan on research and development in 2025, a 39.6% increase from the previous year. That level of investment reflects a company that understands the auto industry’s next competitive battles won’t be fought on the factory floor alone โ they’ll be fought in software labs and engineering centers.
The company has built a portfolio of over 400 core technologies across five platforms: its Mars vehicle architecture, Kunpeng powertrain systems, Lingxi smart cockpit, Falcon intelligent driving suite, and Galaxy connected ecosystem. These aren’t marketing buzzwords โ they represent the infrastructure Chery is building to stay competitive as cars become increasingly defined by their software just as much as their engines.
The road ahead won’t be without challenges, particularly as global competition intensifies and trade dynamics shift. But based on what 2025 delivered, Chery enters its next chapter with momentum, financial strength, and a technology base that few would have predicted just a few years ago.
