Chinese automaker Geely Group Co. Ltd. on Tuesday said it plans
to put up an assembly plant in the north Philippines' Subic Bay
Freeport Zone, for the production of its affordable Geely cars
line.
Subic Bay lies on the west coast of the island of Luzon about
100 kilometers northwest of the country's capital of Manila. Its
shores was formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility
and now it is the location of an industrial and commercial area
known as the Subic Bay Freeport Zone under the Subic Bay
Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).
The company, through its local unit Geely Cars Philippines said
2,000 units of its hatchback and sedan models will be shipped
through Subic, for dealers and customers in Metro Manila and other
places nearby, Philippines television network ABS-CBN News
reported.
The cars, priced at 387,000 pesos (about 9,140 U.S. dollars) for
the 1.1-liter MR hatchback, and 489,999 pesos (11,570 dollars) for
the 1.3-liter CK sedan, will be brought to the Subic distribution
hub tax paid, just like the car imports of mainstream
distributors.
The firm plans to eventually open 12 dealerships in the country
by next year.
Apart from this, it is also planning a separate assembly plant
in Subic for its semi-knock down units to take advantage of the
incentives being offered by SBMA.
Geely cars, which are manufactured by the China-based Geely
Group Co. Ltd., are being positioned in the Philippines for the B,C
and D income brackets, which comprise 75 percent of the firm's
market.
(Xinhua News Agency December 5, 2007)
