Geely Targets To Become A Top 5 Auto Brand In The Philippines

Sojitz G Auto Philippines (SGAP), the exclusive distributor of Geely vehicles in the Philippines reported its best month ever in terms of sales last March.

The plunky upstart Chinese brand showed it was no fluke as it registered 533 units sold in a single month—a 17 percent increase compared to the month before. Year-to-date so far, they’ve sold 1,313 units, enough to catapult them into a solid fourth place in AVID’s Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) category.

Compared to 2020, the difference is even more staggering—with sales growing 11 times (March 2020 versus March 2021) and 4.4 times (Q1 2020 versus Q1 2021).

In a media roundtable for Auto Shanghai, Geely’s regional management team lauded SGAP for their achievement despite business adjustments due to the on-going pandemic.

Jun Song, General Manager of Geely Auto International Sales Company based in China, attributes this to Filipino buyers knowing exactly what they want, and that Geely, as a car brand, fulfills those desires.

Geely, through SGAP is targeting an ambitious goal of becoming a Top 5 auto brand in the Philippines within the next three to five years.

This year alone, Geely is targeting 9,500-unit sales—enough for them to overtake both MG and Kia, and putting them in the Top 6 or Top 7 car brands—with a chance of even leapfrogging Isuzu and Honda.

Mr. Song says that Geely’s strategy to achieve this would be to look at their performance on a product-to-product basis.

“Not one product can help us achieve our goal of becoming a Top 5 brand,” he says. “That is why we will use a multi-product strategy, enhancing our product range.”

Geely will introduce yet another new product offering within the first half of 2021.

While enthusiasts are eagerly awaiting the arrival of CMA-based Geely vehicles such as the Icon, Tugella (Xingyue), and Preface, it’s a stronger possibility that Geely will instead go down market, introducing instead an entry-level crossover to slot below the Coolray. It will be made to compete with the likes of the Kia Stonic, Chery Tiggo 2, and other sub-compact sedans/hatchbacks.

If that’s the case, this will likely be the Emgrand X3 which is powered by an excise tax-friendly 1.5-liter normally-aspirated 4-cylinder engine with 108 horsepower and 142 Nm of torque. If that’s the case, it could theoretically be priced at below the P 600,000 mark for a top-of-the-line trim. In China, this sub-compact SUV costs only 68,900 RMB or around P 511,000 for a fully-loaded example.

Mr. Song also gave a hint saying that “there’s more to come for the Coolray.” This could mean that Geely Philippines could also be bringing in a more affordable variant powered by a 1.0-liter turbocharged 3-cylinder with 136 horsepower and 205 Nm of torque, or perhaps even a hybrid version.

Source: Car Guides PH