Geely Automobile Holdings, Proton’s partners, has been taking a bit of a beating on the stock market. Back in July, the company was trading at over 20HKD a share, but since then things have not looked good for the Chinese auto conglomerate. Just today, the stock dropped by about 11% to 10.14HK$, making it one of the Hang Seng Index’s worst performers.
Does this news have anything to do with our national car maker? Doubtful. Analysts are pointing towards Geely’s own missed sales targets in 2018 (they aimed for 1.58 million units, but sold 1.5 million) and further weak sales expectations for 2018 of 1.51 million.
To be clear, this isn’t exactly the fault of Geely’s management. Their success with Volvo Cars last year was undeniable. It’s mainly due to the slowdown in the global economy thanks to Drumpf’s trade war with China.
Let’s see how China’s most ambitious carmaker reacts to the changing winds. Will Proton or Lotus be affected in any way? That’s what we’ve got our eyes on. Perhaps the shrinking Chinese Domestic Market will further push Geely’s efforts in the direction of these two companies.
