Chery Auto, China's largest independent carmaker revealed to the media yesterday that its light truck project has made a breakthrough and has officially distributed the truck to its wholly-owned subsidiary Karry Motor Sales Co., Ltd. Chery's first light truck will be launched to the market next year.

Li Jianzhong, general manager of Karry Motor Sales Co., Ltd said that Chery's Karry (minicar) company and sales division Karry sales company will be renamed to Karry Motor Company and Karry Motor Sales Co., Ltd.

After the change of the company's name, Karry Motor's products will no longer be limited to the minicar models, but to expand its business to include Chery's light truck models.

In addition to launching its first light truck model, Chery Auto is set to start selling its first plug-in electric car model S18 in the second half of this year as the government has announced its plans to support and subsidize more eco-friendly vehicles.

The Chery S18 can travel as far as 150km (93 miles) using just its batteries. Plug-in cars can be recharged from standard household outlets. The S18 can be fully charged in 4-6 six hours. Chery has already put on sale its A5 BSG and QQEV low-speed electric vehicles, and more EV models will be released.