The shares of Chinese carmaker Geely surged Wednesday after it exceeded sales projections for 2022. Geely’s stock rose up to 7% before leveling down to trade just over 3% above its previous closing.
According to Geely, its 2022 sales increased by 45.6% from the previous year to 148 billion yuan ($21.49 billion), while its profit increased by 8.5% to 5.26 billion yuan. Geely reported sales of 135.4 billion yuan, which was less than what analysts had predicted, according to Refinitiv consensus estimate.
This was done despite difficult market circumstances and ongoing pandemic-related disruption, according to the company’s description of its “resilient financial and operational performance.”
Geely said that overall sales increased 8% to more over 1.4 million vehicles in 2017. According to CEO Daniel Li, this amount exceeded China’s 5% prediction for the country’s whole car sector.
In 2022, the business reported that 252,787 units, or 23% of all sales, were made up of high-end models.
Given that sales of its new energy and electrified models increased by over 300% to over 328,000 units last year, Geely claimed to have made “significant progress” in this area.
Geely established a 1.65-million-unit sales goal for 2023 and stated that it seeks to treble the percentage of new energy and electric vehicle sales.
“The EV [prices] will eventually be comparable to [cars with internal combustion engines],” he continues.
In projects ranging from the revival of the all-electric Smart brand to a new venture connected to internal combustion and hybrid engine technology, the company’s partners include Mercedes, Renault, and Aramco.
Li stated that Geely and Renault aim to create 7 billion engines and transmissions annually and that they are “open” to provide service and assistance to other brands switching from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles. He said that Aramco will help the two automakers financially and that they may “leverage on” Aramco’s new sustainable fuels.