Geely now China's third largest automaker, H1 sales up 44%

World
Europe

Chinese automaker Geely is now the country’s third biggest car manufacturer, overtaking Japanese rivals Nissan, Honda and Toyota in the first half of this year, according to its latest sales figures.

Published Wednesday, Geely reported that total revenue in the first six months increased by 36 percent to 53.7 billion yuan (7.8 billion US dollars), putting the company behind only Volkswagen and General Motors in the world’s largest car market.

The Hangzhou-based company, which bought Swedish brand Volvo Cars in 2010, sold over 767,000 vehicles in the first half of the year, up 44 percent on the same period last year.

The company has set a sales target of 1.58 million vehicles for the whole of the year, with Geely expanding further into the electric sector with the construction of a five-billion-US dollar new energy vehicle plant in Zhejiang Province announced earlier this year.

Geely’s Boyue model has been particularly popular in China, with sport utility vehicle (SUVs) making up 58 percent of Geely’s total sales.

The majority of parts used in manufacturing sourced domestically. This means global trade tensions should not affect the company’s plans going forward, according to chief executive Gui Shengyue, who spoke to reporters in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

The company is looking to expand further into overseas markets, particularly in Europe and Southeast Asia. On Saturday, the company signed an agreement extending its partnership with Malaysian automaker Proton, which is set to use Geely technology in its vehicles.