Household Appliance News
- Geely to sell London taxis in China
Date: 30-May-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
GEELY Automobile Holdings, which bought Britain's Manganese Bronze in 2006, plans to sell the firm's iconic London taxicabs in China next year at less than half their current cost, and begin exporting the vehicle to Asia and elsewhere soon after.
Ambitious Geely, which makes no secret of its eventual plans to expand globally using some of its home country's cheapest-made cars, may start exports to Hong Kong - bringing a common London sight to the special administrative region.
'We estimate the production cost can be lowered at least by half,'Geely Executive Director Lawrence Ang told reporters yesterday after showing the firms' newest London cab to pre-selected Hong Kong taxi drivers.
Prices had not been finalized but Ang said U.K.-made models sold at nearly 40,000 pounds (US$79,350). Geely and Manganese have set up a joint venture in Shanghai that can turn out 10,000 of the cabs a year in about a dozen colors apart from the familiar black, tailored to specific markets and customer demand, and another 30,000 intended for private limousine or sedan use.
It will eventually serve as a global base for production and export to Southeast Asia and, eventually, other regions.
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