industry news

China goes car crazy

(NZ HERALD) - In a sprawling factory south of Shanghai, Li Shufu, the self-made Chinese billionaire who is poised to buy Volvo from Ford, is presiding over a new-model launch party. If he has any concerns that his Geely Automobile Holdings’ rising sales and surging stock price could falter, he’s not showing them.

Geely, the publicly traded carmaker that Goldman Sachs is backing to the tune of US$334 million ($473 million), is unveiling its first homegrown model specifically designed for Western markets.

The gleaming white four-door compact, which retails for US$11,700 to US$17,600 in China, is called the Emgrand, a name made up to conjure grandeur.

To the strains of the company song, willowy models in split-to-the-thigh cheongsams pin bouquets on pudgy Communist Party VIPs. Policemen salute as the first Emgrands leave this plant in the port city of Ningbo through clouds of theatrical smoke.

Li, Geely’s chairman, already has an international car business. Since 2006 Geely Automobile has been a 23 per cent shareholder in the company that’s the biggest maker of London’s iconic black cabs. In October Ford named Geely Holding Group, Geely Automobile’s parent, as the preferred bidder for Volvo.

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