Geely Auto was founded in 1997 by Founder, and now Chairman, Li Shufu who believed in the potential of the Chinese automotive market as consumers transitioned from bicycles to motorbikes to automobiles.
The first Geely Auto vehicle was produced in 1997 named the Hao Qing. The Hao Qing made history as the first privately-made Chinese domestic vehicle, and offered an alternative to other popular small cars from Japan that cost more than 100,000 RMB (at the time a salary of 10,000 RMB per year was considered high). First-year sales would reach 10,000 units, by 2003 sales reached 100,000 before tripling again to 326,000 in 2009 and quadrupling to 1.58 million in 2018.
The introduction of the Emgrand series in 2009 helped to propel Geely Auto into the fast lane; the new model range stood for Geely Auto’s repositioning to focusing on premium, quality, and performance as brand pillars, which resonated with consumers.
Further introduction of Emgrand models such as the Emgrand GS Crossover and Emgrand GL sedan helped to push total Emgrand sales to over 3 million units as of 2020.
The same can be said of the Bo Yue SUV (Azkarra in the Philippines), which has also contributed heavily to Geely’s total sales growth, reaching 1 million units since its introduction in late 2016, and becoming one of the best-selling Chinese domestic SUVs to date.
When Geely Auto’s parent company, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, acquired Volvo Cars in 2010, technological cooperation was placed at the forefront of the company’s plan. Today, this has spearheaded technological innovations such as the Compact Modular Architecture (CMA), a family of efficient powertrain technologies that make use of electrification, and a jointly-created 7-speed dual clutch gearbox.
Geely Auto’s CMA-based cars, introduced over the last couple of years in the Xing Yue coupe-SUV crossover and the recently-launched Preface (Xing Rui in the China market) sedan have further redefined Geely’s position as a technology leader in the global automotive sphere with strong sales results in China, and in global markets where Geely operates.
Nearly half of Geely Auto’s ten million sales came in the past three years alone, showcasing the rapid growth that Geely has committed itself to.
With more CMA- and BMA-based vehicles coming, as well as Geely’s all-new SEA pure electric architecture, the road to the next ten million vehicles is expected to be much shorter.
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