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Geely out to shock with online car sales
Source: Xinhua |
September 13, 2010, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA'S "Henry Ford," Li Shufu, founder and chairman of Geely Automobile Holdings, stunned the world when his auto maker acquired the 82-year-old luxury car maker Volvo earlier this year. Now he is out to shock the world's auto industry again - this time by selling cars online.
Geely, China's largest privately owned car maker, said it plans to sell cars specially designed for Internet sales at Alibaba.com, the country's biggest online marketplace.
"If you don't try, you will never know if it will work or not," Li, a 47-year old who has proven before his lofty ambitions are not just talk, told Xinhua on the sidelines of an Internet forum that opened in Hangzhou last Friday.
Geely said it would launch an online edition of Geely Panda, a micro car popular among Chinese young white collar workers. Although it will be sold only online, buyers will enjoy all the services of a Geely dealership that offline buyers receive.
"Hopefully, our first online shop will open early next year," Liu Jinliang, vice president of the Hangzhou-based company, told Xinhua at the forum that ended yesterday.
"We have been planning this for a long time and we have already done some testing," Liu said.
Buying a car online may be novel in China, but it is nothing new in the United States.
John Donahoe, chief executive officer of eBay, a leading e-commerce company, said in Hangzhou last Friday that several thousand cars have been sold online via mobile devices in the US, including a US$250,000 Lamborghini.
Although there is no successful example in China, Liu believes it is the right time to start selling cars online as China has become the world's largest auto market.
China has more than 400 million Internet users, of which one-third shop online.
Geely, China's largest privately owned car maker, said it plans to sell cars specially designed for Internet sales at Alibaba.com, the country's biggest online marketplace.
"If you don't try, you will never know if it will work or not," Li, a 47-year old who has proven before his lofty ambitions are not just talk, told Xinhua on the sidelines of an Internet forum that opened in Hangzhou last Friday.
Geely said it would launch an online edition of Geely Panda, a micro car popular among Chinese young white collar workers. Although it will be sold only online, buyers will enjoy all the services of a Geely dealership that offline buyers receive.
"Hopefully, our first online shop will open early next year," Liu Jinliang, vice president of the Hangzhou-based company, told Xinhua at the forum that ended yesterday.
"We have been planning this for a long time and we have already done some testing," Liu said.
Buying a car online may be novel in China, but it is nothing new in the United States.
John Donahoe, chief executive officer of eBay, a leading e-commerce company, said in Hangzhou last Friday that several thousand cars have been sold online via mobile devices in the US, including a US$250,000 Lamborghini.
Although there is no successful example in China, Liu believes it is the right time to start selling cars online as China has become the world's largest auto market.
China has more than 400 million Internet users, of which one-third shop online.
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