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Volvo’s sale to Geely on track, major issues resolved

December 23, 2009 at 9:31 pm By Harvinder Sidhu Filed Under Cars, China, Ford, Geely, International News, Volvo

Ford has officially announced that all substantive commercial issues relating to the sale of Volvo to the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group have been resolved. The current owner of Volvo revealed that it expects the deal to be signed in the first quarter of 2010 and the deal is expected to be fully finalized by the second quarter of next year. The sale is said to be worth about US$ 1.8 billion and it would be the largest acquisition of a foreign automaker by a Chinese company.

Ford also said that some work still remain before the deal can be completed and these include final documentation, financing (from Geely’s end) and relevant government approvals. Ford will focus on its core brand and also revealed that it will still continue to cooperate with Volvo in certain areas after the sale but confirmed that it does not intend to retain a shareholding in the Swedish brand.

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Chinese site claims Volvo and Geely purchase deal finalised?

June 18, 2009 at 12:26 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, China, Geely, International News, Volvo

There are no confirmed reports in the Western media yet, but Chinese website auto.sohu.com claims that Ford and Geely have already struck an agreement for the Swedish car company best known for their safety to be sold to the Chinese manufacturer. But it is the only news source that seems to be covering this story, so it either might only be a blown-up rumour or it might be so fresh that only the Chinese side want to talk about it at the moment.

Nevertheless even that news report is skeptical about how such a deal can pull through successfully. Geely’s market value is over 30 billion yuan, which is about 4.3 billion USD, and a Volvo buy would also require several billion USD, claims the site. They are saying Geely might take government loans and other financial assistance. And given Ford’s improving financial health, it will be less desperate to sell Volvo, which might raise the Swedish manufacturer’s price.

Elsewhere in media reports, people are still talking about another Chinese car company recently deciding to join the race to buy Volvo from Ford – Beijing Auto Industry Holdings. Beijing Auto currently has joint ventures in China with Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai. Other names mentioned before in the press said to be interested in Volvo include Renault, Chery, and Changan.

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Geely GE shamelessly apes the Phantom

April 27, 2009 at 8:31 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, China, Geely, International News, Rolls Royce

Geely GE

Everytime Chinese automakers begin to show that they’ve moving one step ahead towards being able to produce advanced and most importantly SAFE cars, things like this destroy all that goodwill and return them to rip-off death trap status.

This is the Geely GE, which at first impression is obviously a rip-off of a Rolls-Royce. Geely denies this of course, saying that while it shares some similiarities it is “original” because while it looks similiar, the details are different enough to be called something new. The 5.4 meter long car has a 3.5 litre V6 engine under its hood.

Geely GE

The Geely GE (GE = Geely Excellence) shown here is a concept car but it must be for the truly antisocial high class Chinese customer as when you peek into the rear passenger cabin there is only one seat, somewhat like a little throne in the car. Only 3 seats in such a large thing – one driver and perhaps a bodyguard at the front and the boss at the back. The production version will be sold under a new brand called YingLun, which is meant to sound like England.

Rolls-Royce Asia Pacific is contemplating legal action, but we don’t know of any further action yet as of publishing time. But what they did say is that despite imitation being the best kind of flattery, they definitely are not flattered.

Look after the jump for more angles of the Geely GE.
[Read more...]

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Geely buys Drivetrain Systems International

March 28, 2009 at 10:01 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, China, Geely, International News

geelymerielogo.jpgGeely has acquired Australian automatic transmission manufacturer Drivetrain Systems International. Drivetrain Systems International is the company that supplies the 6-speed automatic transmission to Korean car company Ssangyong, which is used in the updated Ssangyong Actyon truck sold here in Malaysia. It also supplies transmissions for the Australian-built Ford Falcon and the Ford Territory.

The deal is set to help Geely expand its product line and improve its ability to develop, produce and equip its cars with competitive transmissions. Drivetrain Systems has an annual production capacity of 180,000 transmissions. No financial details related to the deal were revealed.

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Geely begins Geely CK1 sales in Indonesia

May 23, 2007 at 5:24 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, China, Geely, International News

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The Geely CK1, who used to sport a W203 Mercedes Benz C-Class front end but has been recently revised has just made it’s debut in Indonesia last week. It is sold by PT Gaya Motor, an associate of Information Gateway Corp Sdn Bhd owned by Tan Sri Cam Soh Thiam Hong.

The car, available in 1.3 litre and 1.5 litre form, will be assembled in Indonesia, and 2,000 units is expected to be sold over the next 12 months. PT Gaya Motor has an agreement with Geely Holding Group for the manufacturing, assembly and international marketing of Geely vehicles in Indonesia. PT Gaya Motor will initially assemble CKD packs of the car in Indonesia, but later will start using more local components as volume picks up.

Geely originally wanted to establish a manufacturing base in Malaysia with an investment of RM100 million together with it’s partner Information Gateway Corp Sdn Bhd, but decided to pull out and choose Indonesia instead because of the discouraging National Automotive Policy.

You can read more about the history of how the NAP chased away a potential investor in the related posts below:

Related Posts:
Geely moves assembly plant plans to Indonesia
IGC to start Geely assembly in October 2006
Geely investment plans on hold again
Geely Freedom Cruiser to be assembled in Malaysia

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Geely moves assembly plant plans to Indonesia

September 30, 2006 at 5:01 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, China, Geely, International News, Local News

geelymerielogo.jpgAccording to a report by China Knowledge, Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd has scrapped it’s plans to set up an automotive assembly plant in Malaysia. Previously it applied to start assembling cars in the 1.3 litre and 1.5 litre range here in Malaysia together with it’s local partner Information Gateway Corp Sdn Bhd (IGC) at a plant in Kuantan. Assembly was expected to begin in October 2006 with the Geely CK sedan. Total investment was expected to be in the RM100 million range.

First they were faced with a 20:80 local distribution to export ratio, and recently the government decided to only approve assembly of cars with 1.6 litres of displacement and above. I suppose when you are faced with so much problems even before you put your money in, anyone would just walk away – Geely has decided to take it’s business elsewhere and has decided to set up an assembly plant in Indonesia instead.

As for Cam Soh’s Information Gateway Corp Sdn Bhd (IGC), they will begin importing Geely cars in from Indonesia for sale shortly. 1.6 litre models and above will be assembled locally in Oriental Assemblers Sdn Bhd’s plant in Johor Bahru by year-end.

Source

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Chery QQ AMT; assembly by Proton next year?

September 27, 2006 at 6:48 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Chery, China, Geely, Local News

chery_qqr_small.jpgAlado Bumi Sdn Bhd launched the new fully imported CBU Chery QQ AMT today, powered by an automated manual gearbox similiar to the unit in the Proton Savvy AMT.

The 52hp 75.5Nm 0.8 litre Chery QQ AMT is priced at RM42,888, while the 0.8 litre Chery QQ with a 5 speed manual transmission sells for RM39,888. Only 100 units of the Chery QQ manual remains, out of the 200 stock that was brought in.

In other Chery news, Chery expects to start local assembly of Chery cars in Malaysia in Proton’s plant by next year if talks go well. As for Cam Soh’s other company, IGC which intends to assemble Geely cars in Malaysia, the government has only given approval to assemble 1.6 litre Geely cars here, but not models lower than 1.6 litre. Are we looking at a non-tariff barrier working in action to protect Proton?

Click here for a price comparison of the Chery QQ with other models in it’s class.

Source

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IGC to start Geely assembly in October 2006

August 23, 2006 at 2:58 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, China, Geely, Local News

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Information Gateway Corp Sdn Bhd (IGC) and Geely will start assembling Geely cars in a plant near Kuantan in October 2006, beginning with the Geely CK sedan. This will make Malaysia the first country outside China where Geely cars will be assembled. Malaysia will be used as a base for Geely to tap the regional market.

IGC will be handling assembly, marketing and distribution of the Geely cars. Geely does not have any stake in the set-up, and are only supplying technology know-how and key auto parts like the bodies, engines and gearboxes – basically a CKD pack.

The Geely CK is powered by a 94hp 1.5 litre Toyota engine. The chassis was developed by Geely engineers together with Daewoo. Geely recently began mass production of it’s own 1.8 litre aluminium block engine with continuously variable valve timing technology that produces 140 horsepower. 50,000 units a year will be built in Geely’s Ningbo plant in the Zhejiang Province. The engine will make it’s debut in the Geely FC-1 sedan. Developing own engines is important for Chinese manufacturers, as most of them use third party engines, usually old Toyota and Mitsubishi designs.

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Geely Beauty Leopard to make European debut

July 27, 2006 at 3:23 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, China, Geely, International News

geely_bl.jpg

Geely will be introducing it’s Geely BL sports car into the European market soon, with a targetted launch date set sometime in 2008. It will be banking on low cost as one of the attraction points – anyone looking for a cheap sporty ride to buy the car but does not mind the fact that it only comes with either a 1.3 litre or a 1.5 litre engine. Transmission options are a 5-speed manual and a slushbox likely to be a 4-speed with overdrive. The car has discs at the front and drums at the rear, and the 1.3 and 1.5 litre 16-valve engines make 84 horsepower and 92 horsepower respectively, both at 6,000rpm. Torque output is 110Nm at 5,200rpm for the 1.3 and 128Nm at a lower 3,400rpm for the 1.5 litre. These engines push a 980kg car. Mostly all show and no go, but it doesn’t look terribly underpowered. Notice the classic Chinese design element – tiny wheels which barely fill up the wheel arches.

Geely has caused some amusement with it’s Geely Merie, a sedan that mimics the Mercedes Benz C-class. They are China’s largest privately-owned car manufacturer. The Geely Beauty Leopard (yes, that’s what BL means) sells for as low as US$7,500 (RM27,600) in China. The car will probably be rechristened for the European market as a car called something that sounds that silly probably will be a sales turnoff. This car falls into the tiny spoarts car segment, and I’m reminded of the old school Mazda Eunos and Toyota Sera. No confirmed prices yet, but we’ll know sometime closer to 2008.

Source

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Geely investment plans on hold again

March 31, 2006 at 9:41 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, China, Geely, Local News

small_geely.jpgGeely Automobile Holdings Ltd is once again rethinking it’s RM100 million investment plans in Malaysia. It was not very happy with the new National Automotive Policy which stated that any new foreign car manufacturers who want to enter the Malaysian market would have to export 80% of it’s production here in Malaysia. It used to be 30:70.

It was also not very happy with the government ruling that no new manufacturing licenses will be granted until overcapacity problems are addressed. I’ll leave you to think of your own definition of what overcapacity. And there’s always that case-by-case basis clause. :)

small_geely_2.jpgIf Geely does not invest in an assembly plant, Geely’s local partner IGC Corp will still continue assembling the right-hand drive Geely cars at Oriental Assembly in Johor.

If I was Cam Soh, I would be pretty frustrated by now. First his Chery A160 vehicles encounter AP problems, now there’s a problem with his venture into assembling Geely vehicles.

It makes me wonder, does the government really intend to develop Malaysia into a regional automotive hub is it just hot air when the policies it formulates do not look very encouraging. But then again, the ‘case by case’ clause is a very good wildcard.

Related:
Geely CK1 Freedom Cruiser
Geely Freedom Cruiser assembled in Malaysia

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