Shanghai (ZXZC)- Geely Auto Group inked an agreement with Xiangtan municipal government on April 29 for a new SUV manufacturing project in Geely's Xiangtan manufacturing base.

Photo credit: Geely

Under the agreement, a new energy SUV platform will be introduced to Geely's production base in Xiangtan, Hunan province, and is expected to output the first vehicle in June 2023. Upon complete of the project, the facilities will be built with an annual capacity of 80,000 new vehicles, and is anticipated to generate production value of 10 billion yuan ($1.545 billion) per year and drive the development of auto parts supporting industries featuring annual output value of roughly 5 billion yuan ($772.619 million). The whole project will involve an investment of around 3 billion yuan ($463.571 million).

In 2015, Geely Auto announced its ambitious new energy initiative, Blue Geely, which would see the company move from focusing on traditional combustion engine technologies to concentrating entirely on new energy vehicle sales and development. As part of the initiative, 90% of Geely Auto sales would consist of new energy vehicle sales by 2020.

Although Geely didn't achieve the goal as schedule, it is moving faster on the deployment of new energy vehicle business.

ZEEKR 001; photo credit: Geely

Geely announced in March the formation of Zeekr Company Limited (ZEEKR), a new electric mobility technology and solution developer based in China that aims to meet growing demands for premium electric vehicles. The first ZEEKR-branded production model, the ZEEKR 001, was unveiled on April 15 with the presale kicking off at the same time.