Geely's CMA platform started to operate

The Compact Modular Architecture platform (CMA for short) ,which is newly developed by Geely and Volvo, has started to operate. And Li Shufu, who is the president of Geely Group, has seen the hope that his dream of selling two million automobiles may come true.

Geely has set a mid-and long-time goal of selling two million automobiles again in a recent management conference according to Yang Xueliang, chief public relation officer of Geely. “But the sales of two million automobiles is only the product planning of Geely and the CMA platform while that of Volvo will not be counted in,” said Yang Xueliang on October 13, 2015.

On October 14, 2015, Geely group announced that Alain Visser had been appointed as global deputy director of marketing of Geely who would be responsible for the CMA range. “The CMA platform will start to operate as soon as Alain Visser comes to power,” an insider of Geely told 21st Century Business Herald.

The goal of selling two million automobiles was first set by Li Shufu in 2007 when Geely was going through its transformation. And this goal should have been achieved till 2015. However, Geely adjusted its goal to sales of 1.2 million automobiles till 2019 afterward.

This year, the increase of sales of Geely is larger than that of other domestic brands. Though, to meet the goal of selling two million automobiles, there is still a long way for Geely to go, considering its annual goal of selling 450,000 automobiles in 2015. What sales can CMA platform bring about for Geely? Even Li Shufu can not predict.

Separated from Geely brands

“The CMA platform will operate independently in the future,” Yang Xueliang told 21st Century Business Herald. And the model of car designed by CMA platform may also compete directly with that of other jointed brands Geely cooperates with. Alain Visser will be responsible for leading in making strategies to promote and sell the CMA range.

Independently operating CMA platform is separated from Geely, as what happens to Volvo and Geely.“After the CMA platform began to operate, just like Volkswagen who has Audi, Volkswagen and Skoda, Geely groups will have three modules, including Volvo, the CMA range and Geely range,” declared Yang Xueliang.

So far, Geely alleged that it had not determined how to name the CMA range. However, according to 21st Century Business Herald, it was found out that, in addition to Bo Yue, Geely had quietly registered a number of trademarks, including Wo Tu, Lang Tu, and nearly twenty trademarks that consist of Geely and different letters.

“We do register a number of trademarks,” Lin Jie, chief sales director and vice-president of Geely group,told 21st Century Business Herald,“and this is to lay a foundation for products which are appearing on the market.” The products of Geely will be put into market thick and fast after 2016 according to Lin Jie.

Mainly promoting SUV in the following two years

What sales the CMA range can reach remains undetermined. But Yang Xueliang pointed out that the existing products of Geely should try their best to make breakthrough regardless the development of the CMA range.

Some of trademarks newly registered by Geely are for SUV.“After an online investigation, Geely has decided that naming SUV could be done in three ways as the followings. But we still have not decided which one is best.” said Yang Xueliang.

First, SUV of Geely will be named Bo Yue. And there will be Bo Yue range, a SUV brand of Geely. Second, SUV of Geely will be brought into existing ranges of Geely, and there will be Di Hao SUV, Borui SUV and Yuan Jing SUV. Third, they will be directly named Geely SUV and different numbers or letters will be used to represent SUV of different models. None of these ways is proved perfect, and that is why Geely is still looking for more practicable suggestions.

What’s more, so far,Geely has performed weekly in SUV market whose explosive development results in that the increase of domestic brands is larger than that of joint ventures. Therefore, Geely has to consider a lot before making decision.

“Now, the sales of SUV only accounts for 20% of the sales volume. To increase that to 35%, Geely will emphasize on promoting SUV in the following two years,” Lin Jie said.

NL-3 will be promoted till the end of this year while NL-4 will be promoted in next year. In addition, the upgraded model of GX9 and Mini SUV developed on the CMA platform will both be promoted next year. Therefore, there will be four kinds of SUV promoted by Geely in 2016 in order to strengthen its competency. Geely can get closer to the goal of selling two million automobiles if its SUV can reach a good sales and earn a good reputation.

Insisting on ‘One Geely’ strategy

However, as the CMA starts to operate and SUV products are promoted thick and fast, there comes a choice for Geely to make. Whether will Geely continue to insist on its ‘One Geely’ strategy or turn to others in the future? “ The main direction of ‘One Geely’ may not be changed, but we will make a little bit of adjustment if necessary considering new products,” declared Yang Xueliang.

Yang Xueliang pointed out that trademarks newly registered are brainstorming products of Geely’s top executives. The registration is for free. All of these trademarks are spare. How to use them in the future still counts on the particular situation. And trademarks are only for products of Geely.

Geely now has developed five ranges including Borui range, Di Hao range, Yuan Jing range, Global Eagles range and England range. Global Eagles range is about to be removed from production plan. England will become an exclusive taxi brand of Geely. The production of remaining three ranges will be increased or reduced, which will be influenced by the adjustment made for promoting new products.

“Product localization will play the leading role in influencing the adjustment,” said Yang Xueliang. As the product value of Geely improves in a whole, the value it provides to customers changes. It is probable that the old product localization may not be adapted to new circumstances. Therefore, Geely is always prepared for making adjustment.