Chinese Geely Posts Double September Sales

Still fighting to snatch Volvo, Chinese carmaker Geely is growing bigger in the domestic market after posting double sales in September compared to the same month of the previous year. Specifically, Geely delivered a total of 32,053 units last month, an increase of 40 percent over August.

As for 2009, Geely delivered a total of 217,334 units in the first nine months of the year, which also represents a boost of 42 percent year on year. The Chinese manufacturer wants to sell a total of 250,000 cars this year.

Geely is still in the race for Volvo but sources close to the matter revealed that the two sides made no progress in recent negotiations. Ford once again confirmed it wants to sell Volvo but refused to provide information on the interested parties.

"Volvo is a good brand, but Ford will sell it in order to shift its main focus on developing the Ford brand," Ford CEO Alan Mullaly said last week.

Ford is willing to sell Volvo by year end but it might appear that such a deadline is impossible to reach given the current state of negotiations. "Ford has a slower pace than GM and Saab and we expect a sale will be completed in the latter part of the year," Swedish industry ministry state secretary Joeran Haegglund said back in August.

Geely agreed to invest up to $2 billion in Volvo, in case the acquisition goes through. Furthermore, the company was willing to construct a new plant in China to build Volvos locally and bring a team of Chinese engineers in Sweden to collaborate with their local counterparts.