Is Geely the new Volvo?
Like all other car manufacturers, Geely started out small, but now they are merging into a partnership with Volvo and have long outgrown the ”cheap and low quality” attributes. The two will still remain two separate brands, but share research and technology which will make the Geely cars more ”luxurious”.
“Geely and Volvo are like brothers, not father and son,” said Li Sufu, Geely Chairperson. He also wants relations between Geely and Volvo Cars to be like the relation between Audi and Volkswagen: they share research and development and common technologies, but have different brands and product positioning.
“We are really looking forward to marketing the new models to our local customers,” said Geely South Africa Marketing Manager Gareth Azzie.
The partnership is mutually beneficial. With the help of Geely, Volvo has also set its Chinese sales target at 80 000 units for 2014 – a growth of 30 percent, which would make the country its largest single market surpassing the United States. It sold 61 000 cars last year – up 45.6% from a year earlier. In January to April this year sales jumped 29.1% – far above the average 10% of the whole of the industry.
If this means that South Africans can get Volvo technology at a Geely price, then we are sure this is a prospect to look forward to!