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Geely

Type	Holding company
Founded	Taizhou, China (1986)
Founder(s)	Li shufu
Headquarters	Hangzhou, China
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Li shufu Chairman of the Board Yue Guisheng CEO
Industry	Automotive industry
Products	Automobiles, Engines, Transmission
Profit	▲ HK$ 0.315 billion (2007) [1]
Employees	7,000 (2007)
Website	www.geely-global.com

Geely Automobile (simplified Chinese: 吉利汽车; traditional Chinese: 吉利汽車; pinyin: Jí Lì Qì Chē) (SEHK: 0175) is a Chinese automaker and is the first independent automobile manufacturer in the People's Republic of China. The parent company is Geely Holding Group (吉利控股集团).

[edit] Early years

Geely started in 1986 as a manufacturer of refrigerators, then moved to manufacturing decoration materials in 1989, and by 1992, motorcycle parts. In 1994, Geely began manufacturing motorcycles. By 1996, Geely had produced over 200,000 motorcycles and scooters. Automobile production started in 1998. Geely began exporting its first cars in 2003. Geely had its IPO in 2004. Geely's chairman and founder, Li Shufu, wants to sell two-thirds of the company's output overseas, though he is noncommitted as to when that could happen. In a March 2005 forum held in Beijing, he was quoted as saying:

We must make cars like people from Wenzhou make [a quarter of the world's] lighters. But developing a car industry is like growing one tree slowly to cover a whole forest.

Li relinquished the CEO title to Yue Guisheng in February 2006 to comply with Hong Kong Stock Exchange regulations. He remains chairman.

[edit] Export sales

Geely made its first foreign incursion into a developed market by being the first Chinese automakers present at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2005. The company presented the entirety of their passenger model lineup with the Haoqing and Meirie hatchbacks, Uliou and Free Cruiser sedans and Beauty Leopard coupé. In 2006, Geely also became the first Chinese car maker to display at the US Detroit auto show. Geely is expected to begin mass sales in Europe in 2007, and are currently re-engineering their cars to meet Euro IV emission and Euro NCAP crash-test regulations. So far, the only European distributor interested in marketing the brand is SHA, former representative of SEAT in Portugal, who is planning to distribute Geely in the Iberian Peninsula. Geely originally planned to begin selling cars for the North American market in 2008, the year of the Beijing Olympics, but after several test vehicles failed U.S. crash and emissions tests, Geely's debut in America has been delayed until 2009. In Peru and Venezuela, Geely already started to sell its products (automobiles and motorcycles). Geely has also entered the Romanian, Pakistan, South African and Bangladesh car market.

[edit] Companies

Geely operates two automobile companies in China:

• Zhejiang Geely Automobile
• Shanghai Maple Guorun Automobile

And is the majority shareholder in

• LTI Shanghai Automobile

[edit] Sales

• 1998-~200
• 1999-~2000
• 2000-~8000
• 2001-~20,000
• 2002-~50,000
• 2003-~80,000
• 2004-~106,000
• 2005-~150,000
• 2006- 207,149^[2]
• 2007- 181,524^[3]

[edit] Models

The prototype sports car Geely CD at the IAA 2005 in Frankfurt

Most of Geely's range is based on the Xiali TJ7300, which in turn was based on the 1987 Daihatsu Charade. Models such as the Haoqing (豪情) (five-door), Merrie (美日) (five-door), Uliou (优利欧) (four-door) and Urban Nanny (van and pick-up truck) have Charade bases, but feature a more prominent chromed grille.

[edit] Zhejiang Geely Automobile

• Xiali TJ7300-based
  • 1998– HQ/Haoqing/Haoqing SRV (豪情/豪情SRV) — 1.0 L & 1.3 L & 1.5 L hatchback
  • 2000– MR/Merrie (美日) — hatchback
  • 2002— MR/Uliou/MS (优利欧)
  • 2004– PU/Rural Nanny/Urban Nanny
• 2002– BL/Beauty Leopard/BO(美人豹) — 1.5 L coupe
• Daewoo-designed
  • 2005– CK/Freedom Cruiser — 1.3 L & 1.5 L & 1.6 L sedan
  • 2005– Geely 美日之星 — 1.1 L & 1.3 L hatchback
• 2006– MK/LG/KingKong(金刚) — 1.5 L & 1.6 L sedan
  • 2006– FC/Vision(远景) — 1.8 L CVVT sedan

[edit] Shanghai Maple Guorun Automobile (SMA)

• 2003–2005 Maple Huapu (华普)M203 — 1.5 L 5-door hatchback
• 2003– Maple Hisoon（海迅）AA & AB — 5-door hatchback
• 2004– Maple Marindo(海域)M303 — 1.5 L & 1.8 L sedan
• 2005– Maple Hysoul（海尚）M305 — 5-door hatchback
• 2006– Maple Hysoul（海尚）M206/Haixuan（海炫） — car aimed specially at female consumers^[4]

[edit] Electric vehicles

Chinese carmaker Geely Automobile has been in talks over the possibility of converting London’s black cabs into electric-powered cars. The company, which co-owns black London taxi-maker Manganese Bronze, says it has held talks with UK government officials about the plan ^[5] and has signed a research and development agreement with Tanfield Group ^[6].

[edit] Transmissions

In January 2007 Zhejiang Geely Automobile Gearbox Co signed a production licence agreements to produce the Antonov TX6 automatic transmission. This is a 6 speed drive by wire planetary gearbox for front wheel drive capable of power-shifting from any of the six forward speeds to any other.

Antonov PLC Production Licence Agreement with Zhejiang Geely Automobile Gearbox Co.

[edit] See also

• Chinese automakers
• The Drive of Life

[edit] References

• "Chinese Car to Debut at Detroit Auto Show". Ward's AutoWorld. Retrieved on January 11, 2006.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ www.caijing.com.cn Geely
2. ^ http://oica.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/ranking06.pdf
3. ^ Hong Kong-listed Geely Automobile 2007 sales up 10 pct yr-on-yr by volume
4. ^ Maple Haixuan: What Chinese Women Want?, Edmunds.com, March 10, 2006
5. ^ http://www.chinacartimes.com/2008/10/20/geely-well-make-an-electric-london-cab/
6. ^ http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/79089ff4-9e3f-11dd-bdde-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

[edit] External links

• Official website in Chinese
• Geely global site
• Geely Holding Group, a chronological history of Geely

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