Bandar Seri Begawan - The recently launched China-made Geely CK
1.5 manual drive seems to have made a good impact on Bruneians. Ten
out of 12 units of the first shipment have already been snapped
up.
"This is due to its very affordable price. It allows more people to
be able to afford a practical, brand new car," said John Too,
senior sales and marketing manager of GHK Motors Sdn Bhd.
Costing less than $15,000, this car comes fully equipped with
electric windows, airconditioning, a CD player, safety belt
features, a remote control and an automatic security central
locking system.
"The reason why this vehicle comes at such an affordable price is
because production costs and labour in China is cheap," he
said.
Instead of actually developing and manufacturing its own engine,
the manufacturers bought Toyota Soluna engines fully approved by
Toyota, he added. "For a 1.5 engine vehicle, the public can now pay
a monthly bank repayment at just over $200, one of the lowest
repayment amounts in the region."
The vehicle has also been distributed in Singapore, according to
Daha Trading Sdn Bhd senior marketing manager James Chin.
"In Singapore, most of the cars go through a strict quality test
before it is allowed to be sold in the market. People there look
for quality and they have high expectations of vehicles," he
said.
The sedan is made by China's Geely international, which was founded
in 1986 by entrepreneur Li Shufu. The company is based in Huangyan,
Luqiao Taizhou city, Zhjiang Province.
Initially set up as a maker of refrigerator parts, the firm went
into car manufacturing in 1997, and they are currently in the midst
of a global expansion, with plans to set up an assembly plant in
the United States.-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times
