奇瑞汽车有限公司于1997年由5家安徽地方国有投资公司投资17.52亿元注册成立；1999年12月18日，第一辆奇瑞轿车下线。2001年，奇瑞轿车正式上市，当年便以单一品牌完成销售2.8万辆；2002年，奇瑞轿车产销量突破5万辆，成功跻身国内轿车行业“八强”之列。2006年销售30.52万辆，全国市场占有率达7.2%，位居全国乘用车行业第四名，强势挺进以往被合资品牌所垄断的中国汽车行业第一阵营，在自主品牌汽车企业中遥遥领先。
Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. was founded by five Anhui’s local state-owned investment companies with a registered capital of RMB 1.752 billion in 1997, on December 18, 1999, the first Chery car came off the assembly line. In 2001, Chery cars officially came into the market with a single-brand sales volume of 28,000; in 2002, with its production and sales volume of cars exceeding 50,000, Chery was successfully listed among the “Top Eight” of Chinese domestic car brands. In 2006, it accomplished a sales volume of 305,200, and had a share of 7.2% of the Chinese car market, ranking 4th in the Chinese passenger car industry, thus showing its great strength in marching into the first camp of the Chinese car industry having been long monopolized by Chinese-foreign jointly-funded brands and taking a commanding lead among independently managed car enterprises.