Geely will spending much more investment in new-energy vehicles and higher-end models after forecasting flat sales in 2019 due to slowing domestic demand in China.
Geely is now China’s highest profile automaker globally thanks to the the group’s investments in Volvo, Daimler and Lotus. The Geely group delivered a sterling 1.5 million cars last year to customers globally which happens to be a 20% increase higher over the impressive 2017 sales figures.
However, it is forecasting largely unchanged sales this year as the country’s giant auto market struggles with slowing economic growth and more cautious consumers. Last year, the overall Chinese auto market contracted for the first time since the 1990s.
Geely said it is launching a series of new energy and electrified vehicles as well as some upscale models to achieve higher profit margins. Geely is planning a total of six new models will be introduced in 2019.
Geely said that the deterioration of consumer confidence in China, the world’s biggest auto market, caused by increased political and economic uncertainties had affected demand, but that its sales had missed its own annual target for 2018 by only 5%.
It achieved a record net profit of 12.55 billion yuan (USD1.88 billion) in 2018, an 18% jump from the previous year.
Total revenue for the year was a record 106.60 billion yuan, up from 92.76 billion yuan in 2017.
