2nd Chinese car brand makes entry with cheapest
sedan
JUST four months after Chery Automobile became the first Chinese
car brand to enter Singapore, compatriot Geely Holdings is
here.
Entrepreneur Peter Kwee's Group Exklusiv, which relinquished its
Renault agency recently, has secured the Geely franchise and will
launch it at its Kampong Ubi showroom on Nov 7.
Group Exklusiv is targeting first-time car buyers with the Geely CK
- the cheapest family sedan in Singapore. The 1.5-litre manual
version is expected to be priced from $38,000 (with COE), 10 per
cent less than the Kia Rio, the least expensive sedan here.
Group Exklusiv executive director Kevin Kwee said:
'If you buy one as an off-peak car, you pay only $200 or so a
month.''
And because Geely spare parts are 'very competitive', insurance
premium for the CK is around $600 a year, even without no-claims
discount. That is almost half the rate of an equivalent car.
The car is also said to be frugal, covering 100km on 6.5 litres of
fuel - or 30 per cent better than a comparable 1.5-litre.
'In China, you will not succeed as a carmaker if your engines are
not fuel efficient,'' Mr Kwee said, explaining that buyers -
largely first-timers who switch from bicycles - are extremely
sensitive to running costs.
Geely started in 1986 as a maker of refrigerators. It ventured into
making motorcycles in 1994 and cars in 1997. Today, it is China's
largest independent carmaker, with sales surpassing 250,000 units
this year - double the volume of Malaysia's Proton, which started
in 1985.
Going by the brisk sales of rival Chery in Singapore, Mr Kwee is
confident that the Geely will succeed here.
In its first three months, from July to September, Chery sold 135
of its micro-mini QQ, the only model available here, outdoing its
closest rival Perodua of Malaysia (110 units) and other established
brands like Citroen, Skoda and Ssangyong.
Mr Kwee expects to sell 1,000 cars a year initially and gain 'at
least' 10 per cent of the market share in 'the next two to three
years'.
But research firm Economist Intelligence Unit said in a recent
report that Chinese carmakers will need 10 to 15 more years to be
competitive in developed markets.
Mr Lee Nian Tjoe, associate editor of motoring magazine Torque,
said: 'Certainly, Geely has aspirations to be the new people's car.
It is not quite there yet, but it will be.''
Mr Kwee expects an automatic CK as well as two more models to
arrive next year.
