Geely Automobile doubles profit on next-gen car sales increase

China’s Geely Automobile Holding, whose unlisted parent controls Volvo, on Wednesday stated net profit more than doubled in last year, the most significant increase in 8 years as sales of its next-generation of automobiles overtook expectations.

The Hangzhou-based automaker stated in a stock market filing that net profit for 2016 increased 126 percent to 5.1 billion yuan ($741.15 million), beating consensus expectations of 4.6 billion yuan in a Reuters survey of experts.

Geely’s income increased 78 percent to 53.7 billion yuan from a year previously. It formerly reported sales rose 49 percent to 765,851 automobiles for the year.

Geely has actually changed itself from a no-frills domestic brand into a car manufacturer with upmarket goals, using its 2010 acquisition of car company to up its game with models such as the just recently released GC9 sedan and Boyue sport-utility vehicle.

Geely will release the first automobiles on a jointly-developed platform with Volvo under new brand Lynk & Co later this year with strategies for the marque to go on sale in Europe next year and the United States in 2019.