The Chinese carmaker Dongfeng has started offering cars and electric cars in the Czech Republic. Next year it wants to sell 300 electric cars and the same number of petrol cars in the country.

It now has homologated three models including two petrol SUVs and one electric SUV. A sports electric car with an output of 510 kW is to come to the domestic market by the end of the year, and a luxury electric car by the middle of 2022.

Donfeng Motors is one of the three largest carmakers in China with an annual production of more than 3.5 million cars.

Distribution for the Czech Republic will be provided by Bidli, which has so far operated mainly on the real estate market, but also supplies photovoltaic power plants or sells energy.

The cars will be offered in the car center in Vestec near Prague, where there is also a service, and at the Bidli branches, of which there are currently 35. The cars will also be sold on the Internet. Service in individual regions will be provided by contractual partners.

Dongfeng wants to compete in the Czech market mainly with pricing. It starts with the Glory 580 petrol model at CZK 599,900 and the Seres electric car at CZK 919,900.

The basic model Glory 580 offers seven seats and is equipped with a petrol supercharged engine with a capacity of 1.5 liters and an output of 107 kW. The Seres 3 electric car has a range of 405 kilometers and a non-flammable battery with a capacity of 54 kWh.

“We are starting with more affordable cars and will gradually start offering higher lines,” said Bidli CEO Jiří Lejnar. According to him, the Glory SUV will compete, for example, with the domestic Škoda Kodiaq, electric cars with electric cars Hyundai and Kia, or the Škoda Enyaq.

Bidli will have a larger number of cars with the maximum possible equipment in stock, if the customer does not choose from stock cars, the delivery time will be three to four months.

Donfeng Motors is one of the three largest automakers in China with more than 50 years of tradition in the automotive segment.

In Asia, it has joint ventures with the Honda, Nissan and Infiniti brands. It has three production plants and four development centers and employs 12,400 people. It offers various models of cars, SUVs, small trucks, trucks and buses with combustion or electric drive.

Last year, it reported a turnover of $68 billion (about CZK 1.5 trillion).