Market report: Geely in China

28Nov2012

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Geely: Road to Success

Established in 1986, Geely is a large privately-owned enterprise that produces cars and spare parts for cars. Since entering the car manufacturing field in 1997, Geely has quickly developed into China’s major brand in mid and lower class sedans. It has relied on its flexible administration and continuous innovation to compete with other Chinese companies as well as superior foreign brands. On August 2, Geely successfully acquired Volvo from Ford. Geely’s is headquartered in Hangzhou(杭州), and has manufacturing bases in Linhai (临海), Ningbo (宁波), Luqiao (路桥), Shanghai (上海), Xiangtan (湘潭), Ji’nan (济南) and Chengdu (成都). Now it has three major brands and over 30 different vehicle models.

Since its inception, Geely has built up a large marketing network. It has about 1000 4s shops and over 1000 service stations. Also, it has nearly 200 sales and service stations outside of China. In addition to its abundance of locations, Geely has taken advantage of today’s advanced information technology and took the lead in building up B2B and B2C commercial channels for cars in China. By the end of 2011, its gross social possession reached more than 2.2 million, and ‘Geely’ was recognized as one of China’s best-recognized trademarks.

Today, Geely has over 18,000 employees, over 2300 of which are engineers and technological workers. Also, there are three academicians, dozens of foreign professors, and hundreds of senior engineers working for the company. All these people contribute a lot to Geely in different fields, and have ensured Geely’s quick development.

Geely’s enterprise key corporate principles include: teamwork; study; innovation; diligence; practicality; perfection.

Geely: Internationalizing Strategy

In the first stage of its internationalization (2007-2009), Geely worked hard to gain fame and brand recognition outside of China. Then, in the second stage (2010-2012), Geely tried to be an ‘influential’ brand. In the third and the last stage (2013-2015), Geely will attempt to become ‘competitive’ even in the midst of competition from long-established foreign car-giants.

Geely took a very indirect approach in raising the popularity of its products abroad. In addition to trying to build up its powerful brand image in the international market implementing the three stages mentioned before, Geely now plans to create manufacturing bases abroad.

To successfully have a share in global market, Geely has to get more support from foreign governments. Also, it still needs to pay attention to its quality control and supervision. Lastly, it has a long way to go before it can compete with the after sale services of the world’s top brands.

Daxue Consulting Market Report

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