China's Geely scouting locations for Europe plant

By Victoria Waldersee

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Chinese carmaker Geely is scouting locations for a plant in Europe but has not committed fully to building up local production, executives from the car conglomerate said in interviews with Reuters in Frankfurt.

"It is not 100% yet," Li Chuanhai, vice president of Geely Auto Group, one of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group's brands, said when asked whether the carmaker would build a plant in the region.

Talks are ongoing between Geely and Poland's new government over a joint electric vehicle plant in the country, but officials told Reuters earlier this year they did not view Geely as an ideal partner.

"We have a lot of possibilities," Li said when asked about the talks, declining to give further details.

Nicolas Appelgren, Europe CEO for Geely's Lynk & Co brand, said Geely was scouting for locations across the region.

The brand, which currently only sells one hybrid model in Europe, will launch a China-made battery-electric car in Italy next month but plans to build its next battery-electric car in Europe, Appelgren said, adding there was no specific timeline yet.

Geely is China's second-largest automaker by sales, eclipsed by BYD only last year. It owns Volvo Cars, has a joint venture with Renault and holds stakes in Aston Martin and Mercedes-Benz.

The company on Wednesday dedicated a base in Frankfurt where it plans to test 13 so-called 'new energy vehicles', a term in the Chinese car market for hybrids, battery-electric cars and hydrogen cars, to assess their performance and compliance with European certification standards.

Geely joins a growing number of Chinese carmakers including Chery and Great Wall Motor making plans to set up local plants in Europe as the European Commission plans stricter trade barriers for import of EVs from abroad, including tariffs of up to 35.3% over which negotiations with Beijing are ongoing.

(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee; editing by Matthias Williams)