Electric Geely Panda in the Works

Chinese companies, who made the headlines every once in a while with their assault of takeover proposals for European automakers, are following the same trend as the rest of the automotive industry and are slowly turning their eyes to electric cars. The best proof comes straight from Geely, whose electric vehicle, the Panda is expected to enter production as soon as this year, chinacartimes.com reported. Geely's Cai Wang Zi said the car is already designed, but production won't start sooner than late 2009.

Geely non-electric Panda is expected to hit the streets in the first months of 2010, with the car likely to be priced in between 40,000rmb and 60,000rmb ($5,850 to $8,800). Details are still sketchy at this point, so more information should surface in the upcoming months as we get closer to the official release date.

Separately, Geely has become one of the top players in the Chinese automotive sector, mostly thanks to its involvement in the bidding process of several European automakers. For example, it was rumored that Geely was closed to take over Volvo, the Swedish manufacturer who's still looking for an outside investor, as well as Saab, who's now living under the patronage of Koenigsegg.

But Geely has always denied rumors, saying that it has no intention to buy European companies but to concentrate on its domestic operations as much as possible.

"The company has not submitted, and has no plans to submit, any bids concerning the takeovers of 'Volvo' or 'Saab' as stated in recent press articles," the company said in April. "We don't have plans to buy Volvo as some media have reported," a Geely spokesman added at that time.