July Sales Hit 250,000 Units: While Others Bleed, Geely 'Counts Money' in High-Quality Growth

August 1st, the auto industry's gaze was fixed on the same poster.

Geely announced July sales data: 250,100 units. A historic high for the same period, with month-on-month and year-on-year double growth for 5 consecutive months.

In this brutal July where the total passenger car market dropped 18% year-on-year, this set of data stands out extremely sharply. While others are bleeding in the quagmire of price wars, Geely is "counting money" on the track of high-quality growth.

The day before the announcement, on July 31, Geely held its mid-term management conference. Group CEO Gan Jiayue set the tone on site: no engaging in inefficient price wars, comprehensively promote fuel vehicle HEV transformation, and seek profits from high-value incremental markets.

From the internal strategy meeting on July 31 to the sales announcement on August 1, within just 24 hours, Geely presented the outside world with a "anti-fragile" equation for crossing cycles.

1

Chinese auto companies going global, in the past few years focused on one thing: "hardship". Either go to emerging markets to sell low-price cars and earn hard money, or get ground into the dirt by tariffs in the European and American markets.

But Geely's overseas performance in July saw a sudden change in style.

Exports that month reached 106,600 units, a violent surge of 202% year-on-year, breaking 100,000 for two consecutive months. Even more harsh is the structure: New energy exports were 62,600 units, skyrocketing 616% year-on-year, accounting for a high proportion of 59% of total exports.

This is no longer simply "selling tin plates", but high-premium "technology export". Geely EX2 took the sales champion in Thailand for electric cars, EX5 EM-i swept through the European plug-in hybrid markets such as Poland and Bulgaria.

Just having a hard product isn't enough, you also need to understand the Tai Chi of geopolitics. In July, Geely acquired Ford's factory in Spain.

Ford, the ancestor of assembly line car manufacturing. Now in the European headquarters, handing over the factory to Chinese car companies. This strategy of "asset-light overseas expansion", using lower capital expenditure and shorter cycles, directly cut into the European hinterland, perfectly hedging trade barriers.

Back then, Toyota went to Kentucky to build a factory to avoid US sanctions, eventually capturing North America. Now, Geely has also learned this trick of "local rooting". From product output to ecosystem rooting, Geely's overseas expansion has entered the 2.0 era of earning high gross margins.

2

If going overseas is opening up new territory, then the domestic new energy situation is a trench warfare where bayonets meet blood.

In July, Geely new energy sales reached 160,100 units, a 23% year-on-year increase, with the new energy share rising to 64%. In this fiercely competitive market, Geely relies on the "wolf pack tactic".

Zeekr builds brand in the sky. July deliveries reached 35,800 units, up 111% year-on-year. The Shooting Brake delivered over 10,000 units in a single month, and the Zeekr 7X global deliveries broke 10,000 units. More importantly, its flagship model 9X has established itself in the 500,000-level market, NPS (Net Promoter Score) ranks first among all categories above 500,000. People buying cars at this price point used to buy the "car badge", now Zeekr gives them "smart floor efficiency" and ultimate experience.

Galaxy and Lynk & Co fight for supplies on the ground. The Galaxy series sold 107,700 units in July, Star Wish sold hot 55,100 units in a single month, becoming a genuine "National Miracle Car"; Lynk & Co sold 16,300 units, new energy share as high as 86%, transformation results in phased achievements.

Under the background of pressure on the industry total volume, Geely did not rely on a single blockbuster to gamble on luck, but used a multi-brand layered matrix, plowing through the market segments from 100,000 to 500,000. Others lead with a single core, Geely fights with full squad battle formation.

3

In the carnival of new energy, many car companies wished to smash all fuel vehicle production lines tomorrow. But Geely doesn't believe in this.

In July, Geely China Star sold 90,100 units, a 15% month-on-month increase. Xingyue L quietly broke through 1 million units, becoming the first Chinese brand high-end fuel SUV to break one million.

In today's shrinking fuel car total market, this is simply a miracle. How did Geely "extend the life" of fuel vehicles?

At the mid-term management conference on July 31, Gan Jiayue gave the answer: comprehensively promote fuel vehicle HEVization. The goal is to sprint monthly sales of i-HEV models to over 30,000 before the end of the year, and fully advance the Million China Star goal.

Japanese cars relied on THS hybrid technology to eat dividends for decades globally. But Geely's self-developed i-HEV Zhiqing technology has started to loosen the monopoly structure of Japanese hybrids. Ultra-low fuel consumption, electric feel acceleration, Geely used intelligence and industrial chain advantages to equip traditional fuel vehicles with "mecha".

Use advanced hybrid technology to "invade their strongholds" (i-HEV will go global in the fourth quarter) in the global market, use the fuel base to provide continuous profit ammunition for new energy transformation. This is the confidence for Geely not to engage in price wars and pursue operational quality.

4

Capital market is the most realistic. In the first half of this year, the auto sector was suffocated by pessimistic expectations. But Geely Automobile (0175.HK) became the only Chinese full-vehicle stock with positive stock price growth since the beginning of the year in "A+H shares".

Institutions are not stupid, what they see is Geely's leap from "scale leading" to "value leading".

Simultaneous improvement in net profit per vehicle and gross margin, profitable loop for high value-added models overseas, these are all solid "money-making capabilities".

In 1997, when Li Shufu first entered the auto industry, he said a famous quote: "A car is just four wheels and two sofas." At that time, Chinese car companies were still looking up to Ford and Toyota, crossing the river by feeling the stones.

Nearly 30 years have passed, the gears of history have completed a wonderful meshing.

Back then Ford taught the world to make cars with assembly lines; now Geely, in Ford's European factories, teaches them how to do globalization; back then Toyota monopolized the market with hybrid technology; now Geely, with i-HEV and pure electric dual tracks, grabs their share globally.

The 250,000 unit sales on August 1st is just a footnote. Behind this report card, a group of Chinese automotive people are using long-term technical tenacity and strategic resilience to pry open the cracks of history and gripped firmly the steering wheel belonging to this era.