Chery Automobile Co. Ltd. (China) has given Schaeffler Group (Germany, parent of INA and FAG Bearings) two vendor awards.

The performance-based awards are PQS (Preferred Quality Supplier) and Core Supplier.

Schaeffler's Taicang plant supplies Chery with engine bearings, transaxle and gearbox bearings, and other mechanical components.

The latest Taicang plant expansion, Taicang Economic Development Area, Jiangsu Province, was inaugurated just this past May 2007. Plant I there was opened by INA (China) Co., Ltd. in 1998 and was INA's first bearing manufacturing operation in that country. The most recent expansion, Plant II, is actually located nearby, but not part of the original Plant I. Schaeffler invested over $285 million in the Plant II expansion, making Taicang one of the company's most important facilities anywhere in the world.

aerial view of Schaeffler Taicang complex
Plant I was expanded in 2005.

article: INA/FAG completes Taicang bearing plant expansion
After VW and GM, Chery is China's third-largest automaker; the company produced and sold approximately 350,000 vehicles in 2007.