NINGBO: Malaysia is poised to be the next home of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co Ltd’s (Geely) methanol-powered vehicles, after China and the European market.
Geely Auto vice-president Wang Ruiping said China’s largest private automaker is open to talks with Malaysia for the project, acknowledging that Malaysia is ramping up efforts to produce green and sustainable fuel.
“There are potential opportunities, we can talk about the details,” she said at Geely’s research and development institute on Wednesday.
Methanol is an ideal source of energy, given that it is clean and easy to transport and store. Environmentally, methanol fuel emissions are significantly lower than that of diesel.
Geely Holding Group’s subsidiary brands have produced the Emgrand methanol sedan and the Farizon M100 heavy truck, both of which have passed the “China VI” emissions standards.
The automaker said it has unveiled about 20 methanol models in both passenger and commercial vehicles, and has more than 30,000 methanol vehicles on the roads with a combined mileage of about 10 billion km.
It is currently testing methanol-powered vehicles in Denmark to sell in European markets.
Geely has a 49.9% stake in Malaysia’s national carmaker Proton Holdings Bhd and says it is pursuing opportunities to produce more models to support the government’s green ecosystem initiatives.
The Geely-Proton partnership has seen the launch of three sports utility vehicles – the X50, X70, and X90 – plus the compact sedan S70x.
The X90 is Proton’s first new energy vehicle offering lower fuel consumption, lower emissions and improved performance.
