Qoros built a factory for 150,000 cars a year and sold 7,000

Qoros was founded in December 2007 as Chery Quantum Automotive Corporation, a 50-50 joint venture between Chinese carmaker Chery Automobile and Israel Corporation (later Kenon Holdings). The ambition was to build a Chinese car brand with European engineering standards and sell it at a premium. The company was renamed Qoros in November 2011.

Sales began in December 2013 with the Qoros 3 sedan. The first four months of 2014 produced 1,490 cars. By August 2014, total sales were 2,540. Full-year 2014 came in under 7,000 cars — against a planned production capacity of 150,000 per year. Sales improved to 14,000 in 2015 and 24,188 in 2016, but never approached the factory's design capacity.

In December 2017, Baoneng Group acquired a 51% stake for 6.6 billion yuan, followed by an additional 12% for 1.56 billion yuan in January 2019. Baoneng's own financial problems from 2021 onwards — seized vehicles, auctioned production equipment, closed stores — dragged Qoros down with it.

Qoros was dissolved in March 2022 due to declining sales and loss of competitiveness. In January 2026, a bankruptcy application was accepted by the Suzhou Municipal Court. The joint venture that had set out to build a Chinese premium brand with Israeli capital and European engineering sold roughly 45,000 cars in its entire life — less than four months of production at the factory it built.