Geely grows by 164%
- 2012 brings massive success for Geely
- Exports exceed 100 000 units in 2012
- Quality and safety improvements thanks to Volvo acquisition
Geely sealed an extremely successful 2012 in December with 11 000 exports for the month, which pushed the Chinese automaker’s growth up to 164 percent.
China’s version of Naamsa, the Chinese Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), this week revealed that Chinese brands exported 470 000 passenger vehicles in total, showing a 30 percent increase over 2011 figures. However, Geely’s export figures from January to December 2012 reached 100 300 vehicles in total – an increase of 164 percent over the previous year.
This made Geely the second biggest car exporter in China.
One of the stars of Geely’s success was the EC7, which is expected to arrive in South Africa in the second quarter of 2013. This vehicle, including the EC7-RV Hatchback and EC7 Compact Sedan, together with the EC8 Mid-size Sedan exported to several countries in Europe, Africa and South America, proved to be popular models in key markets with export sales of these markets accounting for 40 percent of total exports. The EC7 series increased over 500 percent year on year with 2011 export figures.
Over the past few years Geely has continually improved its quality management systems, and the world is taking notice.
Dr. Zhang Lin, Vice President of the Geely Group and General Manager of Geely International, was quoted saying: “Geely’s strong export sales are due to Geely’s new range of highly competitive vehicles and increased investment in key areas such as quality and branding. Geely has now entered a strategic period for export sales, (and) later in 2013 we will add more models to our export line-up such as the GX7 SUV which will help us continue with our sales success.”
Geely has set up multiple complete knock down (CKD) facilities in key markets to speed up product delivery and also lower costs for consumers, but there are no plans for manufacturing or assembling vehicles in South Africa. Geely has established CKD facilities in partnership with local partners in Russia, Ukraine, Indonesia while a new CKD plant came online in Egypt in mid-2012 where the EC7 is produced. In addition plans for new production facilities in Ethiopia, and Brazil are well under way.
New models will be continually introduced into export markets, such as the new GX7 which will further be rolled out to key international markets, while other new models will follow. Geely plans to aggressively expand in each market with increased investment, new models and strengthened training policies for all its sales staff to ensure customer satisfaction in all markets.
Geely was re-launched in South Africa in 2011 as one of the brands under the Dacar Motor Group.
“These plans include South Africa, where we have already expanded our dealer network to 40 dealers across the country, including Namibia and Botswana opening soon,” says Henri Meistre, Managing Director of Geely South Africa.
“The new quality direction of Geely is being noticed, and we are very optimistic for the local launch of the EC7 in May this year,” says Meistre.
