Chinese automaker Geely Group Co. Ltd. on Tuesday said it plans to put up an assembly plant in the north Philippines' Subic Bay Freeport Zone, for the production of its affordable Geely cars line.

Subic Bay lies on the west coast of the island of Luzon about 100 kilometers northwest of the country's capital of Manila. Its shores was formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility and now it is the location of an industrial and commercial area known as the Subic Bay Freeport Zone under the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).

The company, through its local unit Geely Cars Philippines said 2,000 units of its hatchback and sedan models will be shipped through Subic, for dealers and customers in Metro Manila and other places nearby, Philippines television network ABS-CBN News reported.

The cars, priced at 387,000 pesos (about 9,140 U.S. dollars) for the 1.1-liter MR hatchback, and 489,999 pesos (11,570 dollars) for the 1.3-liter CK sedan, will be brought to the Subic distribution hub tax paid, just like the car imports of mainstream distributors.

The firm plans to eventually open 12 dealerships in the country by next year.

Apart from this, it is also planning a separate assembly plant in Subic for its semi-knock down units to take advantage of the incentives being offered by SBMA.

Geely cars, which are manufactured by the China-based Geely Group Co. Ltd., are being positioned in the Philippines for the B,C and D income brackets, which comprise 75 percent of the firm's market.

(Xinhua News Agency December 5, 2007)