Sunday, December 10, 2006
Geely Automobile (吉利汽车) - pronounced "JEE-lee"
- 1st independent automobile manufacturer in PRC
- parent company is Geely Holding Group (吉利控股集团)
Something PROTON really need to learn from them :
- started in 1986 (remember when PROTON started?) as a manufacturer of refrigereators, then moved to decoration materials in 1989 and by 1992, motorcycle parts
- 1996, Geely had produced over 200k motorcycles & scooters
- 1998, automobile production started and began exporting it 1st car in 2003
- IPO in 2004
- 1st Chinese car maker to display at the US Detroit auto show
- expected to begin mass sales in Europe in 2007
Geely Objective : wants to sell two-thirds of the company's output overseas
Heard of Chery?
There are 120 carmakers in China & according to goverment data, Geely is No 8 while Chery is No 3.
Geely big idea : In 1997, it thought it would be a good idea to make cars. Less than 12 months later, it rolled out its first units. This year, Geely is poised to produce over 200k cars.
That's nearly double the output of Malaysian's PROTON, which had a 10-year head start...
Important Q :
- how many carmakers in Malaysia currently?
- given 20+ yrs, what PROTON achieve?
WHAT will become of Proton, Malaysia's struggling carmaker?
A political project set up in the 1980s, it never picked up speed, has been overtaken by foreign competitors and has become embroiled in a struggle over its future direction. With its cash reserves running low, it is now in danger of breaking down altogether. The government, which hopes to place the company with a “strategic partner” by next February, simply wants to extricate itself from the mess with the minimum of humiliation.
Which route it will take is the subject of feverish speculation.
Proton market share :
- in 2002 : over 60%
- in 2006 : ard 30%, exptected to reduce further in 2008 (AFTA mandates)
Proton Wira - based on Mitsubishi Lancer/Colt
Proton Perdana - based on Mitsubishi Galant/Eterna
Proton Waja - designed locally
Acquired Lotus in 1996 from Bugatti, lead to production of Proton Gen-2 and in Jun 2005, Proton introduce Proton Savvy.
Proton was into collaboration with MG Rover (British) but the deal subsequently collapsed.
Proton purchase majority share in MV Agusta (Italy - motorcycles) and a year later, Proton sold off its 57.7% share in MV Agusta to another Italian company for a token of Eur1 due to heavy debt.
Proton announced that it'll JV with Volkswagen AG of Germany but nontheless, none of them announced detailed concrete plans for partnership.
In Jan 2006, Volkswagen pull out again...
sMurFy at ... [ 10:19 AM ]
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