Geely SUV base in Chengdu set to start operation

Shanghai, August 25 (Gasgoo.com) Chinese carmaker Geely Auto recently said that its SUV production base in Chengdu, capital city of southwest China's Sichuan province, will start operation next month and is expected to roll out its first SUV model in October, xinhuanet.com reported today.

The 3-billion-yuan ($439.2 million) project's major part is nearing completion. The facility includes the assembly, coating, stamping and welding workshops. The first model to roll off the assembly line will be the Gleagle GX SUV, which will go into mass production at the new plant in 2010.

Geely Automobile Holdings originally designed its Chengdu base for auto-parts production. In March, Geely bought bankrupt Australia-based Drivetrain Systems International (DSI) which manufactures gearboxes, and then re-planned the Chengdu plant to be a base for producing economical SUVs.

According to its schedule, Geely Auto will start to mass produce the Gleagle SUVs in its Chengdu base next year, with an initial annual output of 100,000 units.

To broaden its vehicle range and price spectrum, Geely has created three sub-brands: entry level Gleagle, mainstream Emgrand (Dihao), and premium Shanghai Englon (Yinglun) which has the controversial Geely GE, a Rolls-Royce Phantom-like model.