Rapid development

Geely is riding high these days with sales surging by 48 percent to 330,000 units last year. It purchased the Australian automatic transmission supplier Drivetrain Systems International (DSI) last March. It received wide media exposure in its bid to acquire Volvo, a deal expected to finalize this year.

Compliments as well as questions surround to Li Shufu, but he remains cool-headed.

"The auto industry is like a marathon race - the key is not to run too fast at the beginning," he said, underscoring Geely's emphasis on technological innovation and training of professionals.

Earlier this month, Geely won the second prize in the 2009 State Science and Technology Award for its innovation, with no first prize awarded. For the past two years, only 12 out of more than 5 million candidate companies received the prize.

The State-level award is not about a single patent or design, but the entire system that cultivates more talent and new technologies, said Zhao Fuquan, Geely's vice-president in charge of research and development.

According to Zhao, the award marks a great leap in Geely's capacity for innovation after the company strategically switched from merely competing with pricing to making quality cars.

The company now has several self-developed engines and transmissions. It is also working on a second generation of its own tire blowout monitoring and braking system, a major breakthrough in safety control technology.

 (China Daily January 25, 2010)