(Yicai Global) Feb. 13 -- Chery Automobile, China's second-largest passenger car exporter, is teaming up with HAAH Automotive Holdings to enter the US market for the first time after the Californian dealership partnered with China's Zotye Automobile. 

Chery Automobile has penned a distribution deal with HAAH regarding an US-assembled premium sport utility vehicle model that will be sold under the brand name Vantas as soon as late 2021, the Irvine-headquartered company said in a statement on Feb. 10.

Before Vantas, HAAH intends to bring Zotye's SUVs to the US next year and is currently looking for more distributors for the debuting model.

The first Vantas will be based on Chery's premium SUV brand Exeed that just needs some emission and rust-proof testing to enter the market, an insider at the Wuhu-based company told Yicai Global yesterday.

"HAAH is not a very strong dealer," said the Chery insider who wished to remain anonymous. But the US firm, founded in 2014, has attracted executives from Japanese carmakers who have experience of successful US market entries, the person added.

HAAH is scouting around for factories in many states, including Michigan, Chief Executive Duke Hale said in an interview with Detroit radio station WWJ Newsradio 950 earlier. The company has already developed a cloud-based digital sales platform for Vantas vehicles, he added.

Founded in 1997, Chery is only second to Chinese car exporter SAIC Motor. Its major markets include Russia and the Philippines while overseas sales fell 32 percent from a year before last year amid a marketwide sales downturn.

Editor: Dou Shicong,  Emmi Laine