Chinese carmaker, Geely, sees India, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the Ukraine as destinations for nine new models.
As the domestic auto producers' market shares continue to ebb, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co is repositioning its sales efforts to developing markets overseas. Geely saw year-on-year first half overseas sales more than triple to 40,000 units, making it the nation's third-largest passenger vehicle exporter behind Chery and Great Wal. It is planning to sell a further 80,000 vehicles by the end of 2012.
In a recent interview, Geely's vice president of exports, Zhang Lin, listed Russia, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iraq as its top four export markets. Russia and Indonesia, where the company has complete knock-down plants, showed substantial sales growth. Geely is also preparing to build similar plants in Uruguay and semi knock-down plants in Ukraine, Sri Lanka and Ethiopia.
While its acquisition of Volvo has undoubtedly helped raise the carmaker's credibility, Zhang stated Geely would not enter the Western European or American markets within the next four or five years. The move “doesn’t mean we lack the capability”, he remarked, as Geely “already have a prodcut (the Emgrand EC7) that has passed the certification”, but rather is focusing on product planning and market research before a significant push into Western markets.
The nine new models will be launched under the Englon, Emgrand and Gleagle brands and will include the new GX7 SUV, the EV8 MPV and EX8 SUV, three new compact cars and an all new improved King Kong compact car.