Geely president: Geely aims to become a top 500 company

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai February 10) - "This year we will expand Geely's production capacity to over ten trillion units, enough to be one of the world's top 500 enterprises" beamed Yang Jian, president of Geely Holding Group, at the company's annual sales conference held last week. He outlined the company's development plan for the new year, saying that Geely would focus on making two transformation—from an international developer to a world leader and from a technology-focused manufacturer to a quality-focused one—and two adjustments—adjusting from rapid development to stable development and from producing line management to quality control management.

Mr. Yang said that Geely not only reached its sales target last year, with total sales of 415,000 vehicles, but was also able to undertake overseas sales, brand creation and talent cultivation, as well as construct systems focused on quality control and spare parts manufacture. The Zhejiang-based company applied for a total of 1,516 patents last year, an increase of 61.4% from 2009, with 1,088 being approved. In addition, the company's unveiling 39 new gasoline-powered and 14 electric vehicles at last year's Beijing International Auto Expo, as well as its complete takeover of Swedish carmaker Volvo, prove that the company is indeed on the path to becoming a world leader.

"In 2010 Geely's strategy towards [the automobile market] was very fruitful, with the MK2 Cross, [Emgrand] EC718 CVT, [Emgrand] EC8, [Englon] SC5-RV, [Gleagle] GX2 and other new models hitting the market, Mr. Yang said, adding, "the 4G13T engine was also a blazing success." J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality StudySM ranked the company's Emgrand EC718 (pictured), alongside FAW VW's and Guangzhou Toyota's offerings, as one of the most dependable cars on the Chinese market. Additionally, Geely's call centers received the best customer service and best customer feedback awards from the Ministry of Information Technology and Industry.

However, Mr. Yang is still not satisfied with the company's current success, stating that Geely's capacity target growth for 2011 will not be less then 18%. He said that Geely Holding Group will focus on six economic areas [within China] and ten major emerging markets, while preparing to enter Western markets. The company will concentrate on complete domestic manufacture, while getting involved with CKD and SKD cars on the side. Geely will also continue to perfect its three sub-brands, working to make them more individual and unique.