- The carmaker earned $119 million from January to June this year, up from $87.5 million a year ago.
- Strong demand for sedans in the Chinese mainland market offset continued weak exports.
- Auto sales in China as a whole surged 47 percent to 9.1 million units.
ZHEJIANG, China — Geely Automobile Holdings, the Chinese owner of Volvo Car, drove to a 35 percent jump in net profit in the first half of this year.
The Zhejiang-based car maker earned $119 million from January to June this year, up from $87.4 million a year ago, Geely said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange yesterday. Its turnover soared 55 percent from a year earlier to $1.35 billion.
The home-grown carmaker said it was encouraged by its overall performance in the first half of 2010, which was helped by the strong demand for sedans in the Chinese mainland market that offset continued weak export sales.
Geely sold 195,734 vehicles in the first six months, up 42 percent annually, accounting for 49 percent of the group's full-year sales volume target of 400,000 units.
Exports sales remained disappointing and rose only 10 percent to 6,940 units.
Industry-wide, auto sales in the country surged 47 percent to 9.1 million units. Sales have begun growing at a slower pace since April due to a cooling economy and the government's macroeconomic control measures.
A Wall Street Journal news report this week said Geely is considering building Volvo cars at a plant in China as well as setting up another car plant and an engine plant in China to turn out Volvo products.
Inside Line says: Things are looking good for Geely in the wake of its Volvo acquisition. — Vivian Jin, Correspondent
Add A Comment »