Geely earnings surge as annual sales near 2 million target
Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd., the centerpiece of billionaire Li Shufu’s car empire, continued to increase revenue and profits in the third quarter as the automaker enjoys a boon from its electric vehicle and hybrids segment.
Net income climbed 92% to 2.46 billion yuan ($340 million), while revenue rose 20% to 60.38 billion yuan in the three months ended Sept. 30, the company said in a statement Thursday.
Geely sold 1.72 million vehicles this year as of October, up 32% from a year earlier. It’s on track to meet its sales target of 2 million cars for the year and only needs to deliver around 150,000 vehicles per month on average in November and December.
“In the first three quarters of 2024, the group maintained strong growth momentum, with sales volume increasing by 32% year on year, outperforming the market,” the company said.
Although still a long way from market leader BYD Co., which sold half a million EVs and hybrids in October alone, Geely’s transition to plug-in vehicles is showing good progress. Deliveries of EVs and plug-in hybrids have almost doubled from last year to about 655,000 in the first 10 months of 2024, with the premium EV brand Zeekr and mass market Galaxy series popular with customers. New EVs like the Xingyuan and Galaxy E5 crossover sport utility vehicle have quickly picked up tens of thousands of orders after going on sale.
Manufacturers like BYD and Geely benefited from China’s cash-for-clunkers program that doles out payments of 20,000 yuan to consumers who trade in their old vehicles for new EVs, while local governments have also given additional incentives.
Geely’s share price has rebounded this year, to be up 64%, compared with the Hang Seng Index’s 15% gain.
Exports is another strong growth category, with shipments rising 71% in the first 10 months. However, the outlook is clouded by growing trade measures against Chinese EVs. The EU voted to impose additional tariffs on China-made electric cars, with the duty for Geely group’s EVs set at 18.8%. Other markets including the US, Turkey and Brazil have also introduced or are mulling more tariffs or restrictions.
Russia, where Geely is one of the top selling brands after Western automakers exited the market due to the invasion of Ukraine, is also planning raise to taxes on imported cars. The recycling fees that car producers in Russia must pay to cover potential costs of when the vehicle is scrapped, have been more than doubled for some vehicle segments. This cost will be offset by subsidies for local carmakers, according to Russian media reports.
