Jetour（捷途）, the SUV brand under Chery Group（奇瑞集团）, signed a memorandum of understanding with its Iraqi distributor Harlem Group（哈林集团）on October 25 to develop a knock-down vehicle assembly project in Zakho, in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region. The agreement sets out a proposed move from vehicle imports and distribution toward local assembly, although production capacity, investment value and a start-up timetable have not been disclosed.
The signing took place at an event attended by Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and China’s acting consul general in Erbil, Zhang Jianxin. In remarks at the ceremony, Jetour Middle East director Jin Kai described the planned development as the region’s first and largest automotive KD project, on a site exceeding 1,000 dunams.
Harlem Group is Jetour’s exclusive distributor in Iraq. The partnership would extend an existing sales relationship into production-related cooperation, with the stated aims of developing technical skills, creating jobs and supporting local industrial activity. Those aims remain dependent on the project’s implementation.
The event also involved other automotive and tourism developments in Zakho. These should be distinguished from the Jetour agreement: the foundation-stone ceremony referenced in the acting consul general’s remarks concerned Motorplex, rather than confirmation that construction of Jetour’s assembly facility had begun.
Knock-down assembly involves supplying vehicle kits for assembly in the destination market. For an automaker with an established distributor, it can provide a way to develop local manufacturing capabilities alongside its sales and service network. The investment required, manufacturing processes and extent of local sourcing depend on the specific project design, which the partners have not yet detailed publicly.
Zakho’s location near the Türkiye–Iraq border is part of the project’s commercial rationale. Jin pointed to its geographic and logistics position as a basis for automotive investment. Whether that location supports a viable assembly operation will depend on production scale, transport costs, market access and demand.
For Chinese automakers expanding overseas, the agreement illustrates how distributor partnerships can evolve into proposals for local production. It does not yet establish an operating assembly business or a proven model for wider Middle Eastern expansion. The next milestones are concrete investment and manufacturing arrangements, a disclosed implementation schedule, and eventual vehicle production and delivery.
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