Geely is going great guns in China, it seems – the company has announced that it sold a total of 1,247,116 vehicles last year, surpassing the previous year’s sales by 63% and beating its own sales target of 1.1 million units. The latter figure was already revised upwards by 10% in the middle of last year.
The part-owner of Proton credited its strong sales performance on the continued success of its third-generation models, which went on sale starting in 2015. The Boyue – which will become the basis of Proton’s first ever SUV this year – was the biggest star, with sales surpassing 30,000 units per month. The company sold 31,205 units of the midsize crossover in December, putting the year’s total at 286,900 units.
Also enjoying a great month in December was the smaller Emgrand GS, which reached a new high of 18,850 units sold, contributing to a total of more than 150,000 units in 2017. Meanwhile, the New Emgrand retained its sales crown in China’s A+ class sedan segment with 25,074 units sold in December and over 264,400 units over the entire year.
Lastly, 14,088 units of the more sophisticated Emgrand GL sedan were sold in December and more than 145,000 units over the whole of 2017. In total, Geely sold 153,625 vehicles in December, an increase of around 42% over the same period the year before. Due to encouraging sales, the company has set a 2018 sales target of 1.58 million units, including Lynk & Co models – far higher than the expected market growth.
Geely said that its success last year was also due to its repositioning as a technology leader, with the launch of its flagship research and development centre in Ningbo employing more than 10,000 research staff. It has also introduced its iNTEC brand of vehicle technologies that focuses on five key areas – safety, connectivity, powertrain, interior environment and assisted driving.
Additionally, the company leveraged on its strength in the sedan market while pivoting towards SUVs – this balanced development of sedans and SUVs has resulted in stable growth across key segments and improved the brand’s competitiveness, performance and image.
Upgrades to its sales and service network has also contributed to the success, with the company ranking first among Chinese brands in the JD Power 2017 China Customer Service Index (CSI) – it scored 735 points, above the industry average of 703 points.
More impressive than the numbers themselves is the customer shift towards higher-priced premium models, with vehicles priced between 81,000 yuan (RM50,000) and 150,000 yuan (RM92,400) making up 60% of all vehicles sold. Over 50% of sales were made up of first- and second-tier cities in China, with increasing demand from young urban consumers born in the 1980s and 1990s.
Plans for 2018 include a greater focus on the development of more refined cars, as well as a continuation of its sales and service upgrade. Geely will also be launching more than 10 new models including sedans, SUVs, crossovers and MPVs, while the iNTEC brand of technologies will see a deeper integration in upcoming products. The company already took the first steps towards revolutionising the traditional automotive business with the launch of the Lynk & Co 01 SUV and its online sales model in November 2017.
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Proton boyue or XC90?
Two things Proton need to realise
1) How does a car company, just started in 1997, 12 years later than Proton, can sell 1.2 million cars?
2) The global market was open to Proton. Proton cannot say China market is so big that is why Geely can sell so much. The global market has been open to Proton. China also was open for Proton to sell their cars there the past 30 years.
3) So, how does a car company just started in 1997 can sell 1.2 million cars and Proton can only sell 70,000 cars?
4) Proton better kowtow to Geely. Cause, at the most, Geely can only sell a couple of thousand Proton Boyue in Malaysia. It is nothing for Geely. They sell 1.2 million cars. They won’t hesitate with Proton’s nonsense of using old vendors and suppliers.
5) Geely made USD$30 billion last year. Spending RM170 million for 49.9 of Proton is small money. They can leave anytime if Proton does not kowtow to Geely
6) How are Malaysians going to afford RM100k Boyue when 76.3% of all EPF contributors only earn RM1500 and below?
7) Proton CEO said 80% of Proton sales consist of Saga, Ertiga and Persona. This means that Malaysians are only willing to spend RM60k on a Proton and nothing more. How is Proton going to resolve this?
Immense china market… Proton must launch left-hand drive version of Persona, Saga, Ertiga, Inspira, Perdana there.
Why you are so worry?
Geely had to compete with so many car companies in China. And yet, they can do so well. The competition amongst the countless of car companies in China is so intense. Government does not side any car companies. they let the car companies compete aggressively amongst themselves
Proton had Malaysia all to itself. It was King in Malaysia for 20 years. No competition and with so much of Government orders, help and protectionism. Even all Japanese brands went up about 700% in price from 1985 to 2017 in Malaysia to protect Proton.
How can Geely do so well with 1.2 million sales?
I worry cause every car Proton launch…they say GAME CHANGER wor
1.5 billion population. nothing surprising with 1 million units sold. try come here, you mayeb doing slightly better than Cherry, maybe worse than Jinbei.
In 1985, a brand new Toyota Corolla in Malaysia was RM20k. In 2017, the same Corolla, now called Altis is RM139k
A 700% jump in price from 1985 to 2017
But the same Corolla in Japan from 1985 to 2017 has only gone up 40%
All car prices went up because of Proton. To protect Proton. It is time to end all this now.
We Malaysians want cheaper cars.
When will GLC linked Proton give the 30% price reduction as promised by Gomen???
China has tested successfully the HYPERSONIC GLIDE VEHICLE 10x the speed of sound, warheads that can obliterate any target on earth last Nov.
They r high tech ,up to date and very competitive in every field.You think they will import a COMPROMISED Campro powered car into China?
Li Chun Rong is not stupid.
Sigh. Some pipu only remember history 5 years back.
https://paultan.org/2007/12/28/europestar-rcr-proton-gen2-en-route-to-china/
Proton went to China but failed. Why is this so? It could only mean that quality was not on par.
And mind you China cars got one of the lowest quality standards. So, if Proton can fail quality in China means….OMG
Sigh. So shy lah.
2007 P1 sold 140k cars, 2017 sold 70k.
Go Bangladesh gagal…go UK…gagal…go China gagal….
Only u said that. True reason why it din take of wuz becoz Youngman din know how to run their business. They talked about setting up CKD operations but that only went to SKD level then died. No becoz of P1 car problems.
That time for Proton has long past gone. Which is why 50% and brains behind it went to a foreign entity. Right now I see it as a “mimpi’ for a Proton brand car to sell in China market. That can only happen if Geely turns Proton into a substantial volume producer increasing market share in Malaysia and penetrating Asean …thats the plan right, at least the primary plan. Once it has bragging rights barulah mintak Geely permission bawak national pride to China. In the meantime I think its better the other half of Proton owners ask Geely to invest in developing Proton engineering, design and development so its not depended on Geely for everything
No worries. With Geelys resources and wider model range. P1 has its covered in the Rm70~80k band customers and >Rm100k band customers. underlined by solid and growing sapot base, the gud times r rolling in.
Is this same Game Changer like GSC Game Changer Iriz??
Oh i hoped so. Iriz was such a revolutionary car it not only changed the game but it changed the whole market. Its all thanks to the little humble Iriz that we now see cars with more safety features nowadays. P1 has gifted us a safer condition to travel on the roads now. Terima Kasih P1!
China have population like 1.3 Billion dude, compare to mesia 31 million only dude (tu pun 3 mil r not all msian). Its like mesia pepol only 2.4% out of 1.3 billion china pepol. So how u expect proton can sell 1 mil car a year? Even back in 1997 china population oredy 1.2 billion. So there u can see y n how they can sell geely car so well in the mainland.
rough calculation:
Geely 1.3 million sales on 1.5 billion population = 0.09%
Proton 70,000 sales on 30 million population = 0.23%
if geely 0.09% on malaysia population = 27,000
if proton 0.23% on china population = 3.4 million sales
So proton wins ahh?
To be specific, China population by 2017 not even reach 1.4 billion. Only 1,388.+++.+++ billion.
biggest conjob is this… Boyue made here will be for Malaysians.
Somehow Proton thinks it will be made here for China market….dream on Proton.
Geely will continue to make their Boyue for their own China market and the profits they will keep all for themselves.
you are not making any sense game changer.. firstly, what do you mean by Proton somehow thinks ? Proton today is part owned by Geely, they are technical partners, and Geely knows everything that is going on in Proton. Boyue is being rebadged for Proton and converted to right hand drive for Malaysia. The RHD Proton SUV will technically be the first ever “geely” vehicle ever in RHD. You are right, Geely will continue to make the LHD Boyue in China.. whereas, Geely and their RHD market ambitions, vehicles in RHD will be built in Malaysia and exported from here. If you have read Geely Chairmans statement, you would have known all this.. no secrets there man. Its very simple.. its in Geelys best interest to ensure that Proton does well, because a “healthy” proton is good for Geely.
P1, Geely, VolvoCar, VolvoTruck, Mesidis > all
In M’sia, P2 > ALL
In terms of death rate causes?
In terms of cheaper maintenance & reliability compare to P1/Vovo/Mesidi. Enuff said.
Nope. Thats fake news. Its not really cheaper than my CPS (engine oil slightly cheaper cuz using 3L instead of mine 4L).
Reliability is even worse, with Mivi1 well known brake judder problem and electrical gremlins.
P2 only jaguh kampung. Whats the fuss?
Yups. P1 & P2 same2 jaguh kampung.
P1 alredi going global.
P2 still crow about being the best in MY.
https://paultan.org/2017/05/02/perodua-bezza-launched-in-mauritius/
Go Mauritus gagal…go SG …gagal…go out of MY gagal…
30k units per month for one model only..
Meanwhile Proton 70k a year, 80% from top 3 model..
Wowzers! Geely itself sold almost 2X the TIV of whole MY from Jan-Nov’17. All will tremble the might of P1, Geely, VolvoCar, VolvoTruck, Mesidis.
higher priced premium models range rm50k-90k??
malaysia more advance then, coz that range is like mid class model only…myvi, city, vios, proton level
Car must be cheaper there cuz intense competition from many many many local brands and add on foreign too. They play volume game there with much lower margins.
Malaysians pay premiums for entry to mid spec Cars. All this due to import duties and taxes. Even with Boyue comes and assemble in Proton City, that SUV will be priced nearly RM 100k and above. Bulk of purchase of cars comes from young execs and knowing Malaysia’s salary scheme, the only options is a cheap Car- Saga, Axia MyV, those willing to commit more will go for City, Vios as such. You think the government wants to relax on this duties and taxes? Dream on coz this is where they make money for the treasury.
Many said Bao Teng 30 years tongkat lose to this young company.
Same thing with Perodua, that one lagi pampered. Unlike Bao Teng, never had crisis, always smooth sailing under jepunis supervision since day 1 to today, heavily favoured by consumers so much until reach status of tak nak pening, tak payah fikir, beli je. All you Perodua fagboys laugh at Geely, you thought they’re some shady PRC sweatshop, dengar nama pun da geli eee. Yet, Boyue sales alone tapau entire Perodua sales. Chew on that!
Now you all see why I support Geely since day 1 on who should be Proton’s FSP. If PSA, kek u all gonna hate Proton even more, no glovebox, cepat rosak, biasalah ini kereta French, no RV, expensive parts long wait from France, yet directors all like to lawatan sambil belajar to Paris, more glamour than going to Guangzhou. Nope nope nope, thank goodness disaster averted.
Geely bought Volvo in 2010, didn’t launch any new model until 2012 with V40 hatch. Volvo too, had a lot of housekeeping to do, but it finally bore fruit beginning 2014 onwards breaking sales record and profit year after year.
Likewise, Proton surely has way more housekeeping to be done, knowing our peculiar corporate culture, but Geely knows what they’re doing. Delicious kangkung dish will definitely come from Proton’s kitchen, just you all wait.
Geely, Volvo, Lotus, Polestar, Bao Teng, 3 – 5% Mercedes > all
Bro. As i said, Geely sales tapau whole of MY sales from Jan~Nov hampir 2X!
Some ask why Geely makes money while P1 din. Its becoz of volume. China market is huge and top it off Geely only has 12% market share! Imagine if they had P1s market share percentage. They will be filthier than filthy rich.
Swedish culture is different. This is why Volvo succeeded with China help.
Wait till China see the culture in Proton. Even till today, Proton has got a big truancy problem. Everyday big headache with countless of workers taking fake MC
Geely will eventually get shocked with Proton culture. A culture of tongkat and lepak
Why you didn’t take the job as the CEO of Proton back then since you know they like to take MC and long breakfast stint? I believe you have the answers to Proton’s problem since you wrote a lots of ill mannered issues related to Proton here which among others indirectly shows the lack of proper control by the top tier management.
Wait n see bro. Don’t talk something non sense macam kat kedai kopi. Even u don’t know what they are doing to improve. How u will know the outcome? Its taking time and not easy task to change what they implement 20 years ago
Arent u the same guy that said majority of P1 sales wuz from gov fleet but then PT burst ur fake news bubble when they repoted 97.5% sales comes from retail end customers?
2018 …no more bailouts from taxringgit.
I believe car sales in China in 2017 is about 20 million so as to give some perspective to figures quoted. BTW, China is going EV in a big-way so presumerly combustible engines maybe old technology.
Not bad la for a sale record of one of the biggest car manufacturer in a country with population of 1 billion peoples.. they must learn more with South Korean company how they successfully sold 1.2 milion hyundai-kia cars in only 50 million+ populated country..
If u ve ever been to China, u will realise that most people dont own a private vehicle unless if they have a property with a proven parking lot in it, chinese government dont allow vehicle purchase without a parking lot. And their MRT coupled with high speed trains and the availability of bike sharing is so convenient that u can actually move around the cities without the need of a car.
Proton must be day dreaming now.
7 Nov 2013:
Proton targets to sell 500,000 cars per year by 2017/18
…(i) Under a five-year business plan, which is in its first year of implementation, Proton is targeting to sell 500,000 cars/annum by 2017/2018, with earnings potentially at ~RM1bil at the pre-tax level.
wonder why people still talk and behave as if Proton is still the same Proton as before. They are now part owned by Geely, with a new management chosen by Geely to lead Proton. why bring up sales targets from 2013??
Some pipu here were only born 5 years ago. So forgip them bashers.
As long as Campro VVTi still around, nobody wants a Proton. Time to ditch all Proton models and just rebadge Geely models to RHD.
All that R&D can close shop.
Concentrate on customer service + QC.
come on… the world market is the aim not china. Proton has first gone into UK market even with favourable comments.
In the end, they still screw it up and only stay being a jaguh kampung.
Proton has all the support, protection, money and etc… still they screw it up.
excuses over excuses over excuses… in the end, always blame someone else but not themself.
Proton exit UK market because of can’t keep up with regulation changes. Their engine not meet Euro standard
Everyone else met that standard but not proton??? Btw, did proton manufacture their own engine back then?
lets wait and see how they price it.
Although it seems that Geely has started to invest/do something with Proton. It doesn’t change the fact that:
Proton is the mother-in-law that a Rich Man (Geely) forced to accept into his house (Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd) when all he wanted is to marry the daughter (Lotus)
Let’s wind back the clock a bit, back to 2012 :
DSSZ resigned not long after launching Preve, Proton just sold to DRB, then the rot began.
Assuming DSSZ soldiered on instead, Proton may have better quality, probably better product range today, but it changed nothing of just how limited resource they had. Ultimately, Proton still need to join a big international family.
I have since day 1 wanted it to be with Geely when others preferred PSA, or Nissan-Renault, etc. While others threw racist insult of the typical PRC stereotyping, I long knew Geely will be a force to be reckoned with.
There is no forcing, it was meant to be either way. The only thing changed maybe is Proton may have better bargaining power and financially healthier when they wanted to enter the deal. It doesn’t matter anymore the moment Geely had agreed to be its new partner, I am satisfied.
Together with Geely, Bao Teng will prosper unlike never before. The future is an exciting one ahead.
the strangest thing is.. from reading the comments here, people still think Proton is an independent GLC entity, and seem oblivious to the fact that it is now part owned by Geely, with a new management team in place appointed by Geely. Change is coming, but like all things automotive..it will take some time. Can’t wait to see what the future holds for Proton.
Given its history and the fact it is still half owned by a GLC, Proton will continue to be seen as a GLC, especially if any public fund is injected into it.
It will change when new products come, proton posts profit and no longer leech public fund, but instead pay tax on its profit. It will happen.
I believe in Dr Li Chunrong, I see he has the charisma and vision on what Proton should and could be. I’ve personally seen him walking around the MAEPS autoshow (when Myvi3 was being previewed), he looked inconspicuous, doesn’t have any VVIP air nor need to be treated like one unlike what you might expect on treating some dato and tan sris of local GLC. Also present were Proton Edar CEO, Abdul Rashid Musa, VP manufacturing Inamori-san, and a few other, they seem to be intense at observing the competitors, I can see they are serious in this business, a seriousness I last feel when DSSZ was the CEO.
Except this time is much better with Geely’s backing and new talents of properly automotive people, rather than some clowns treating proton as cash cow to line their pockets.
Some pipu r still stuck in the past dreaming of bringing back a certain geriatric leader. While time and country has moved on, these pipu gets resentful when reality dun matches theirs. So they vent left right center and even rear as well.
Actually most Malaysians know why Proton failed…..it is because Proton has never been run by the BEST brains, and that is the same for many GLCs.
Just that it is not politically correct to state the OBVIOUS.
Thats the problem with the leadership of a certain longtime leader. P1’s troubles was oso his own doing. And now the current Guy trying to correct all those problems, we have pipu clamouring for the “gud ol days”.
Hope Gelly comes sooner