The majority of the 200 senior executives from the world’s leading automotive companies who were interviewed (86 per cent) believe China, the world’s biggest auto market, will continue to enjoy the greatest number of car sales and produce the most vehicles by 2015. China is also considered the biggest investment target.

The survey was conducted in September and October last year and canvassed the opinions of motor manufacturers, suppliers and dealers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (51 per cent), Asia-Pacific regions (27 per cent) and in the Americas (22 per cent) on the current state and future prospects for the automotive industry worldwide over the next five to 10 years. Emerging markets continue to accelerate and China clearly dominates – 42 per cent of respondents expect domestic sales in China to exceed 18 million by 2015.

Overcapacity, however, is a concern with 50 per cent of respondents believing that China’s automotive industry will have an excess of capacity by 2015, although the majority (two thirds) believe the United States, Japan and Germany have the most overcapacity.

China’s auto output surged 39,4 per cent year-on-year to 9,7 million units from January to July of 2010. Meanwhile, China’s auto sales ‘only’ increased to 8,2 million in the same period, up 28,6 per cent from the previous year.

In comparison with the 2010 survey, merger and acquisition activity appears to have gone down for all types of automotive business, the new survey has found. Respondents felt that mergers would be more common in the east (excluding Japan), with Chinese and Indian companies being the main buyers, as evidenced by Geely’s acquisition of Volvo from Ford for $1.8 billion in August 2010.

The biggest driver behind mergers and acquisitions were access to new technologies and access to new markets.

Respondents agreed that the two most effective strategies to achieve profitability were rationalisation and the building of strategic alliances.

Ms Howard has considerable experience in the motor industry, including nine years with Ford Motor Company where she was PR manager for the Ford, Mazda and Mitsubishi brands as well as the tractor division and motor sport.

More recently she has been involved with managing events for a number of motor and other companies, including General Motors, Toyota and Peugeot.

Her biggest achievement to date is the management of the Chanatrax project.

She has travelled extensively both in Africa and overseas.

“I’m very excited about this new challenge,” she said.

“I was intimately involved with the launch of the Geely LC to the media, dealers and customers earlier this year and I have been impressed by what I have learnt about Geely, which is the biggest independent car manufacturer in China.”

“The company has exciting plans ahead and several new models are destined for the South African market. I’m delighted to be part of the dynamic team that will be introducing these vehicles and building this new brand in the years ahead.”

Ms Howard has been a member of the South African Guild of Motoring Journalists (SAGMJ) for many years. She can be contacted on telephone number 012 809 2784 or 083 228 7182, or by e-mail at corinna@geelysa.co.za.

Geely, the company that acquired Volvo cars from Ford in August last year, is one of the biggest private automobile manufacturers in the People’s Republic of China. It is represented in South Africa by Geely South Africa, owned by the Hallmark Motor Group, a sister company of the JSE-listed transportation, supply chain and logistics service provider Cargo Carriers, and the family-owned Magic Group, who each hold 50%. Geely has set a sales volume target for 2011 of 480 000 units, representing growth of just under 16% versus the 2010 result.

The Chinese carmaker exported 20 555 vehicles in 2010. At present, Geely cars are mainly exported to developing nations like Russia and other Asian countries, as well as Australia and South Africa, but by utilising its current platform, the company is seriously considering potential expansion into the American and European markets, according to Gui.

Last year, sales from overseas accounted for five percent of the total 415 800 units sold by the firm.

For 2011, Geely has set its sales target at 480 000, a 15 percent increase. “We are confident we will achieve the sales target this year,” said Gui.

The company now boasts 41 dealers, up from 12 just over a year ago, and is enjoying growing sales of its recently launched Geely LC mini car that sells for under R90 000.

Geely is the largest independent car manufacturer in China and earlier last year Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, parent company of Geely Motor Holdings, acquired Volvo Cars from Ford Motor Company for $1.8-billion.

Geely South Africa is co-owned by the Johannesburg-based Hallmark and Magic Groups and, since taking over the role of importer and distributor of the brand early in 2010, has taken significant steps to improve the brand’s image, concentrating on a stronger dealer body and a higher level of sales and after-sales service.

“Initially, while we waited for the arrival of the new LC Geely product we were able to focus on strengthening the dealer network and raising the level of customer satisfaction in both the sales and after sales areas,” said Jessup, a 30-year industry veteran. “We increased the dealer network from 12 to 25 within the first six months, including the replacement of three of the original dealers, and after a year we had 33 dealers. Today, we have 41 dealers and are in negotiation with several candidates as we continue our drive to offer our customers and potential customers a wider representation around the country. We are also in the process of appointing a recommended panel repair network around the country. “We have also enjoyed excellent coverage of the new car in the media following the launch and are encouraged by the enthusiastic comments made in the road test reports that have been published so far.

Jessup is impressed with what he and his executives have seen of the Geely product on recent visits to China. “They are stylish, well-made and excellent value for money, with loads of features that you would not expect of vehicles in the price range. There is a strong emphasis on safety, with a 4-star C-NCAP the minimum target with all models. Two current models, including the LC, enjoy a 5-star rating

“We are looking closely at the extensive range of Geely cars, SUVs and light commercials and we will enter at least one further major new market segment each year for the next three years.” “We are a small but growing team of experienced professionals who are serious about making a success of the Geely brand in South Africa,” said Jessup. “We believe that our product represents a whole new take on the value proposition, particularly in the entry-level market, and we are committed to backing the brand with the highest levels of sales and after-sales service irrespective of our vehicle price positioning. All Geely cars also come standard with a 36-month or 100 000 km warranty with AA Roadside Assistance. Optional service packages of 24 months/60 000 km and 36 months/90 000 km are available.

Geely and Volvo will each send four people to the nine-member committee, chaired by Geely founder and chairman Li Shufu, a company statement said.

Members of the committee will meet twice a year to discuss a wide range of issues, including marketing, manufacturing and new product development.

Chairman Li welcomed the establishment of the dialogue and cooperation committee: “This forum echoes our strategy of ‘Geely is Geely, Volvo is Volvo’. Discussion will be carried out on an equal footing, with an aim to make the best of Volvo’s cutting-edge technology in safety and environmental care and Geely’s insights for the China market and customers. I am confident in the synergy and a win-win result.”

Volvo’s Jacoby, a former top Volkswagen executive, said: “This mechanism will help us better envision our future in China and seize the momentum of fast expansion here. We want to enhance the competitiveness of our brand and market share here so as to grow China into the second home market for Volvo.”

As part of its effort to restore Volvo to long-term profitability, Geely may build as many as three plants in China to make cars under the Volvo brand, Li said in September.

Geely Holding Group agreed in March to buy Volvo from Ford for $1.3 billion in cash plus a $200 million note.

Volvo is a niche brand in China, with sales of 22 700 units in the first nine months, according to J.D. Power. Only two Volvo models, the S40 and S80L, are built by a Ford joint venture in the southwest Chinese city of Chongqing.

Following the awarding of the National Scientific and Technological Progress award for its innovation system in 2010, Geely has won several awards this year including two special honours, “The Enterprise with Most Achievements of the Decade Award” and “The Enterprise with Most Progress of the Decade Award.”

The awards, jointly presented by the Management Case Centre of Peking University (MCCP) and the Economic Observer, a leading business newspaper in China, aim to commend those enterprises with substantial achievements in the past decade. Winners also included Haier, Lenovo and Microsoft (China).

Geely was rewarded for perseverance and adherence to powerful and independent innovation, continuous exploration, and a dedication to meeting customers’ needs. The company’s success also points to the optimistic growth of the Chinese automotive industry, with both ups and downs in years 2001 to 2011. Geely’s acquisition of Volvo Cars for $1.8 billion was a significant factor in its Decade Awards.

The Zhejiang-based company is in the fifth year of its transformation from an affordable vehicle brand to a quality and technology-driven, globally competitive carmaker has seen the company inject massive manpower and financial resources in technology innovation over the past few years. Almost eight percent of its sales revenue is used on research and development with its staff complement expanding to around 2 000 members from just hundreds.

Social responsibility is a key element in the company’s philosophy and focus and it contributes to substantially to education as well as promoting the development of China’s Project Hope, all activities aimed at promoting a harmonious society.

The Zhejiang-based company is in the fifth year of its transformation from an affordable vehicle brand to a quality and technology-driven, globally competitive carmaker. As more customers switched to Geely, the annual sales volume of 415 286 units in 2010 was an improvement of 27,68% over the previous year.

Geely has already invested more than four million US dollars in construction costs in the new facility, which covers nearly 12-acres and includes real and virtual crash-testing grounds for vehicles. Initially it will be equipped to prepare vehicles for safety impact tests to both Chinese and European standards and, on completion, will be able to conduct rollover tests, all impact tests as well as provide a testing ground for the vehicle operating stability system.

Dr. Frank Zhao, Geely Holding Group’s vice president and president of its Research Institute, said that at present the group’s annual investment in car safety tests and other R&D efforts accounts for around 10% of its sales revenue. He added that above 80% of Geely’s new cars will be developed based on the C-NCAP five-star safety rating and the remaining will reach four-star level.

Two Geely models have achieved five-star rating. The first was the Panda minicar (recently launched in South Africa as the LC) in 2009. With a total score of 45,3, it was the first ever A00 class car in China to achieve such a standard. The second was the Emgrand EC7 sedan and hatchback, which achieved a record high score of 46,8 in January 2011.

These achievements were possible because of GTSM (Geely Total Safety Management) system, which includes all of Geely’s active and passive safety technology and represents the manufacturer’s safety development philosophy. In the third-party certified C-NCAP test for passive safety, a four-star rating is Geely’s minimum objective while the ultimate goal is a five-star rating. Geely states that 80% of its cars will be designed to achieve a five-star rating.

At this year’s Shanghai and Shenzhen-Hong Kong international auto shows, the car company’s ‘Quality Geely’ theme shone through and of particular interest was its cutaway examples of the Emgrand EC8 and EX8 sports utility vehicles in the Geely Safety Technology Park. The ‘disassembled’ cars revealed Geely’s advanced technology, designed to ensure safety, which included safety features like seat belt, air bag and air curtain configurations as well as the application of high-strength steel and optimisation of the car body. Dissection of the EX8 showed both its passive safety applications as well as its four-wheel-drive technology.

Show visitors were also able to closely examine Geely’s BMBS (Blow-out Monitoring and Braking System) active safety technology via an interactive ‘touch centre’, where the benefits of BMBS could be experienced. These include helping the vehicle to brake with 500 milliseconds in response to a tyre bursting during high-speed driving. This greatly reduces the risk of accidents, as drivers in ordinary situations may only be able to react after two or three seconds.

Geely’s BMBS technology enables real-time tyre pressure monitoring. It is able to detect unusual changes in the tyres’ air pressure and temperature. When a blowout occurs, the system starts up a rapid intelligent response that triggers automatic emergency braking, yet maintains steady reduction of speed. The technology, which was first seen at the North American Auto Show in 2008, received a Special Contribution Award for Technical Innovation.

But there’s a lot more to the Geely LC than its pleasing and thoroughly modern design and shape. It’s strong on safety features and is the first Chinese car to boast a five-star Chinese NCAP crash test rating.

Five-Star Safety
In October 2010, the Geely LC won the prestigious five-star C-NCAP (China-New Car Assessment Programme) safety rating for impact collisions with an impressive 45,3 points out of a possible 51. In the front impact test, Geely scored 14,29 points, which is higher than Honda Jazz and Toyota Yaris.

Cross Class Safety Designs for 5-Star Safety
While LC is an A-class mini car it boasts more safety features than many mid-size cars. In passive safety, Geely LC features an integrated cage body structure with high-strength steel and seamless welding. The engine compartment can effectively reduce the force of frontal impact, while the side body is made from a single steel panel that can effectively resist a side impact. There are also two front safety air bags and pretensioned seat belts in the GL model and lateral airbags and side curtain airbags in the GT. Active safety features include ABS, EBD and ventilated front disc brakes on all models.

Intelligent Safety Equipment for More Active Protection
An alarm sounds when the seat belts are not used and the alarm will also remind you that a rear door is open or when the speed exceeds 120 km/h. When the car is locked the rear doors cannot be opened from the inside. Childproof locks are fitted inside the rear doors. The ignition key, which has the distinctive shape of a panda’s head, has a two-stage action: the first press opens the driver’s door and the second press opens the passenger door.

More than 25 000 entries were received in the Internet-based competition and the winner was Mr Pieter Meintjes of Pretoria Gardens in Gauteng. The public was invited to guess the price of the brand new Geely MK2 1.5 GT Hatch on display and the winner was the person who most accurately guessed the average of all the answers received.

Mr Meintjes and his family were shopping at the Colonnade in Pretoria North when they came across the Geely competition display. He sent in a number of entries and two of these were within R64 of the correct answer of R138 188. In fact, the car retails for R114 995.

“I was very surprised to find out the actual cost of the Geely,” said a delighted Mr Meintjes, a 33-year-old Telkom technical officer and father of a four-year-old daughter. “Actually, my wife and I have been considering buying a new hatchback car and we were interested in the Geely. We are a one-car family and I had hoped to be able to buy her a new car for her birthday in July. Now she doesn’t have to catch a lift to work with me in my bakkie!”

“The Geely MK2 Hatch is a great choice. It’s very affordable and has a lot of features for its price. We’re very happy to have won this car,” he added.