By Anton Ivanov
The Head of Sales and Service at Borisov’s BelGee, Alexey Krichmar, has told at a press conference in Minsk that Belarusian-Chinese assembled Geely cars are to be sold through Geely dealerships in Russia. He added that Geely SC7 cars have been tested and are now available for sale at about $13,000. About 30 vehicles have been purchased by individual customers since being distributed from the Borisov workshop in March. Company fleet contracts are yet to be signed, although there are some letters of intention.
The company’s EMGrand X7 crossovers are currently undergoing tests and should soon be available from dealerships, at around $19,000 to $23,000 — with three models offered.
The joint venture plans to have sold about 700 cars in Belarus by the end of the year, focusing on mainstream public sales at mid-level pricing. Next year, BelGee has plans to sell around 2,500 Geely cars, hoping to gain a 7-12 percent share of the Belarusian market for new cars.
According to Dmitry Batrakov, BelGee’s Director General, the cost of building the Belarusian-Chinese assembly plant is to be revised upwards. Initially, it was thought to cost $245m but the use of more contemporary technologies will raise this noticeably.
A new factory to produce Belarusian-Chinese Geely cars should launch in late 2015, able to manufacture 120,000 cars per annum. There are plans to increase the share of locally supplied components, and localise die moulding; painting, welding and assembly of cars is already conducted in Borisov.
The Borisov-based site is a temporary solution requiring less investment injection while the new site will be able to take on the full production cycle, explains Mr. Batrakov. He tells us, “All car components, including glass and tyres, will eventually be sourced from Belarus for the Belarusian-Chinese cars.”
