Gasgoo.com (Shanghai March 24) - Geely's net profit totaled 1.54 billion yuan ($244.03m) in 2011, growing 13 percent from the previous year, Gasgoo.com (Chinese) reported today. The figures come from Geely's recently released annual performance report, which also reveal that the manufacturer's total business returns increased four percent, totaling 20.96 billion yuan ($3.32b) for the year. Geely sold a total of 422,000 vehicles, equal to year-on-year growth of one percent. The manufacturer has set a target of 460,000 sales for this year.

When breaking down Geely's returns by individual regions, the vast majority, 18.92 billion yuan ($2.99m) came from the Chinese region. Business returns from European and Korean sales totaled 595 million yuan ($94.28m) and 800 million yuan ($126.77m), representing year-on-year growth of 208 percent and 216 percent, respectively.

Geely's automobile exports totaled 39,600 units last year, nearly double the 2010 result. Due to overall slowing growth in the market, both Geely's Englon and Gleagle brands saw 2011 sales fall 11 percent and 5 percent, respectively. However, sustained interest in high-end models helped the Emgrand brand, whose sales grew a full 47 percent, finishing at 106,676 units. Emgrand sales accounted for a quarter of Geely's total sales volume.