La Chine accepte de plafonner l’exportation des hybrides en Europe. À quel prix ?

06 December 2011 - Beijing, China - Robotic arms are busy working on the assembly line in Geely Auto Ningbo factory in Ningbo, east China's Zhejiang Province, Dec. 6, 2011. "If China had not entered into WTO, we wouldn't have Geely," remarks Li Shufu, president of Geely Holding Group, who always attributed Geely's achievements to China's WTO admission. As one of China's top auto manufactures, Geely, the private automaker transforming its business from low end fridge-making, found its success in automobiles. Li says the worries and concerns served to up the pressure under which some would wither and some thrive.After entering the WTO, China's auto industry has survived the impact of cancelling the protective tariff and maintained strong momentum. Geely acquired the Swedish brand Volvo from U.S. auto giant Ford for 1.8 billion U.S. dollars last August, marking the first time a Chinese car maker acquired an international car brand. It was reported that Volvo's auto sales in world market grew 26 percent from January to October this year. Volvo witnessed a turn-around in car market and has now returned to profitability. "Some Chinese feared China's entry of the WTO and cried, 'the wolves are coming', but I saw opportunities," said Li. His vision for Geely sees the automaker evolving into a world famous brand by 2015 with an annual output of two million cars. Photo Credit: Han Chuanhao/Xinhua/Sipa Press/geelychnsipa.011/1112081955