Belarus to increase Geely assembly capacity to 80,000 cars per year, planning to produce another Chinese brand - Deputy PM

MINSK. Aug 21 (Interfax) - The BelGee Belarusian-Chinese joint venture will increase the localization of production and expand the capacity for the production of Geely cars to 80,000 units per year, Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Pyotr Parkhomchik said.

"An important task is the localization of the component base of these cars. The next year will be very difficult for BelGee; we need to create stamping production in short order to produce all the body components our enterprise needs. In addition, we need production for welding structures. So, we are moving to the stage of creating additional capacities to get to 80,000 vehicles per year with a two-shift operation," Parkhomchik said on the ONT TV channel.

This year, car production will increase to 60,000 units, the deputy Prime Minister said. "Last year, we produced about 30,000 cars, and the market was short of product. The President set a tough task to produce 60,000 cars this year, and it will be unquestioningly fulfilled. We have already produced and sold 40,000 cars," Parkhomchik said.

"We have an agreement with one of the Chinese companies which has already delivered two crossovers for certification that will not overlap with Geely products; they are more expensive, more business-class," he added.

"In the near future, August-September, we have to certify them. Starting in September, we will be receiving kits for their production. We will assemble them at the Unison enterprise," he said.

BelGee was established in December 2011. In November 2017, the company put into operation a full-cycle CKD car assembly plant in the Minsk region. Production capacity is 60,000 vehicles per year with the possibility of further expansion.

Geely is one of the largest private automakers in China.

Unison was founded in 1996 as a Belarusian-British joint venture called Ford Union. In 2000, it was transformed into the Unison joint venture. For more than 15 years, the company has been assembling a number of car brands, including Ford, KIA, and Samand.