The History of Qoros: China's Brand Built to European Standards

Qoros timeline

A joint venture with a European plan

Qoros was created in December 2007 by Chery, one of China's largest independent carmakers, and Israel Corporation through its subsidiary Quantum. Each partner held half. The global financial crisis of 2008 slowed the project, as the old version of this page noted, but the company kept hiring. Most of its senior engineers and designers came from established European and American carmakers. The aim was a Chinese brand that could pass European crash tests and sell to European buyers.

Chery continued to sell cars under its own name alongside the venture; its wider story is told in our history of Chery. For Israel Corporation it was an industrial investment through Quantum, the holding later transferred to Kenon. Neither partner put its own badge on the cars, so Qoros had to build a brand from nothing.

In October 2009 Qoros signed a cooperation agreement with Magna Steyr, the Austrian engineering and contract-manufacturing company. In June 2010 it moved its planned plant to Changshu, near Shanghai, and in November 2011 it took the name Qoros Auto. The plant was built for 150,000 cars a year.

Geneva 2013 and the five-star Qoros 3

Qoros chose Europe, not China, for its debut. In March 2013 it showed the Qoros 3 Sedan at the Geneva Motor Show, together with an estate and a crossover concept, after a large advertising campaign. In September 2013 the Qoros 3 received five stars from Euro NCAP. It was the first Chinese car to do so and achieved the highest score of any car Euro NCAP tested that year.

The old version of this page described the Qoros 3's engines: a 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol with 94 kW (128 hp) and a turbocharged 1.6 with 116 kW (158 hp). Buyers could choose a six-speed manual or a dual-clutch automatic, and the cars reached 100 km/h in about 11 and 9 seconds. The car itself is described in detail on our Qoros 3 Sedan page.

Models and concepts

According to the old version of this page, the Qoros 3 City SUV had a ground clearance of 227 mm. The Qoros 2 plug-in hybrid SUV concept of 2015 had a combined output of 182 hp (about 134 kW). Other concepts included the eBIQE electric bicycle (2014), the Mile 1 GT (2018), the Mile II shooting brake (2019) and the Milestone saloon (2020).

Sales that never reached capacity

Qoros sold fewer than 7,000 cars in 2014, its first full year. That was under 5 % of the plant's planned 150,000-car capacity, by our calculation. The company reacted with changes at the top, described below.

Sales rose by 70 % in 2016, the company's best year, but even then the plant ran at a small fraction of its capacity. European sales were tested in Slovakia. In April 2017 Qoros announced that it had no plans to sell cars in Europe for the foreseeable future.

Baoneng and the decline

In December 2017 the Shenzhen-based Baoneng Group bought 51 % of Qoros for 6.6 billion yuan. In January 2019 Kenon, which had taken over Israel Corporation's stake, sold half of its remaining 24 % to Baoneng, leaving Baoneng with 63 %, Chery with 25 % and Kenon with 12 %. The Qoros 7 SUV of September 2020 was the first model developed under the new owner.

The new owner did not reverse the decline. In 2022 sales collapsed, many vehicles were seized and a court in Wuhu announced an auction of production-line equipment. In May 2022 a provincial consumer association in Shandong placed the brand on a consumer blacklist. In January 2026 Qoros applied for bankruptcy, and the Suzhou court accepted the case; more than 35 billion yuan in shares were frozen.

Ownership and leadership over time

The leadership changed as often as the ownership. In 2014, after the weak first year, chairman Guo Qian was replaced by Chen Anning. In February 2015 Phil Murtaugh, a former General Motors executive, became chief executive, but he left less than a year later. Each change came with a new plan, yet none of them closed the gap between a plant built for 150,000 cars and annual sales in the low tens of thousands.

The old version of this page stressed that most of Qoros's managers had been trained at leading international carmakers. That was true, and it showed in the engineering of the first car. In our view, it did not solve the problem of making an unknown name attractive in a market already full of established brands.

Why Qoros failed

• Too few models, too late. For two years the brand sold variants of one compact car while Chinese buyers moved to SUVs.
• Capacity far above demand. A plant for 150,000 cars never sold more than about 24,000 in a year.
• Europe never happened. The European quality that made the Qoros 3 a crash-test leader was meant for export markets that the brand never entered.

These reasons follow from the figures above; they are our analysis, not statements from the company.

Qoros compared with other Chinese brands of its time

Qoros proved that a Chinese car could meet the strictest European safety test in 2013. Chery itself went on to sell its own Tiggo SUVs in many markets; the Tiggo 7 even became the Qoros Young. More Chinese makes are listed in our Chinese cars section, and the Qoros catalogue page collects the models. Our car comparison tool lines up the Qoros 3 with European rivals.