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China automaker plans exports to US market
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-10 15:56
China's Geely Automobile Co. has become the latest Asian automaker to aim for
the U.S. market, announcing plans to sell low-priced cars there by 2008.
A Geely five-passenger sedan is displayed in
the lobby of Cobo Center for the North American International Auto Show in
Detroit January 6, 2006. As China gets ready to enter the U.S. market,
Geely Automobile Co. becomes the first Chinese automaker to exhibit at the
Detroit auto show. Geely's display will stay up for the media preview from
January 8 to 11 but will be removed before the show is open to the public
on January 14. [AP] |
"Our goal is to present to the American people another choice for the family
sedan, a vehicle that possesses the highest quality but is available at the
lowest price," Li Shufu, chairman and founder of Geely, said in a statement
Tuesday at the Detroit Auto Show.
He said the Geely "will bring to the people of the United States a safe, high
quality, family-friendly automobile" for less than $10,000. Chinese rival Chery
Automotive also plans to begin exports to the U.S., as early as 2007, in
association with American entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin's Visionary Vehicles. It
hopes eventually to sell 2 million vehicles a year.
Both companies first will have to meet stringent U.S. auto emission and
safety standards.
Until recently, most Chinese vehicle exports have gone to the Middle East and
other parts of the developing world.
But last year China reported it had become a net exporter of cars and trucks
for the first time, with the country recording an export surplus of 7,000
vehicles in the first 10 months of 2005.
The debut in Detroit of Geely's 7151 CK model sedan followed its appearance
at other international industry shows, part of an effort to raise the company's
profile as it pushes overseas.
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