Geely sales up 26.5% to 274,900 units in Jan-Sep

Shanghai October 14 (Gasgoo.com) China's largest homegrown automaker Geely Automobile Holdings (00175.HK) said yesterday it reported sales of 274,900 vehicles in the first nine months, up 26.5% from a year earlier. Geely has completed 68.7% of its full-year sales target for 2010, the Beijing News reported Thursday.

Aiming to sell 400,000 vehicles this year, Geely said its sales in September gained 27.5% month on month and 0.6% year on year to 32,259 units, of which the Freedom Ship, King Kong, Emgrand EC7 as well as the Vision sold 6,235 units, 7,255 units, 6,105 units and 4,657 units respectively.

Geely started the multi-brand strategy in 2009 by launching three brands: the Gleagle, Emgrand and Shanghai Englon. However, the "Shanghai" Englon sounds too restrictive, so it has officially been changed to "Englon". The company will complete brand transition of the three in two years. The Geely brand would be gone by 2012.

In this regard, Credit Suisse Founder Securities Co., Ltd. said it would be a big challenge for Geely to achieve its annual sales target in the fourth quarter because the company has been concentrating on launch of new models and brand transition this year. Its sales may thereby be disappointing.