Chinese carmaker Geely wants to sell 100,000 cars a year in the UK and would consider local production as it aims to take on Tesla and BYD in Europe’s second-largest market for electric vehicles, reports the Financial Times. The UK has become a battleground for European expansion by Chinese carmakers because of strong EV sales and the absence of import tariffs.
“Currently the UK market is more open and a friend for Chinese brands,” Michael Yang, the head of Geely Auto UK, told the Financial Times.
Geely would aim to launch 10 electric and plug-in hybrid models over the next three years and sell about 100,000 cars a year in the UK, he said in an interview. This would give it a market share of around 5% in the country. BYD and Tesla have a share of around 2% each this year.