No gear shift in Geely US plan

BEIJING, March. 4 -- Geely Automobile Corp, one of the Chinese private automakers that plans to export to the US market, denied a report that it would postpone its plans due to its failure of a recent emission test in North America.

John Harmer, vice president of Geely USA Inc in charge of business expansion in the US market, said Geely failed to pass the first emission test held by the US Environmental Protection Agency due to engine problems, USA Today reported.

Harmer also said if the carmaker were to buy engines from other engine makers, it would greatly increase its costs, making it difficult to achieve its target to sell its Free Cruiser model below US$10,000 in the United States, according to the report.

"The failure is acceptable as our original plan is to start selling (our cars) in 2008, before which we would conduct a series of tests on both safety and emission," said Qu Wei, project manager of Geely International Corp.

"Through the tests, we would know better the higher US emission standard and improve our standard to bring it fully in compliance with the local regulation."

Qu also mentioned that the firm is currently focusing its capability on more technological improvements of the Free Cruiser model at a research and development center in Linhai City, Zhejiang Province. The company plans to have another crack at the US market soon.