China's Geely eyes online car sales

• Source: Xinhua
• [17:04 September 12 2010]
• Comments

Li Shufu admitted he is not sure whether his e-shop will prove to be a success, but he is sure the Internet is an effective platform to showcase new models and generate awareness for Geely products.

Even in the United States, GM's experiment selling cars on eBay in California has met with difficulties.

Only 45 sales were logged in the program's first nine days, Automotive News, a leading US auto industry website, reported last year.

But the pioneering sales effort did draw eyeballs: the eBay experiment received 630,000 visits and more than 960,000 searches were performed on the site in its first week.

"I've sold vehicles to people who say the vehicle on eBay. They didn't buy them on eBay. They called, came in and bought them," the Automotive News report quoted one dealer.

Analysts say consumers are concerned if they do not see the cars they will buy with their own eyes and that underdeveloped logistics services in China may also hinder efficient delivery.

Liu Jinliang said even if online car sales take off, they will not replace the traditional brick-and-mortar store.

"We are in a traditional industry. But we do not want to miss the chance brought by e-commerce," he said.