With its market share approaching that of BYD, Geely Auto's revenue in the third quarter exceeded 89 billion yuan. Is it really time for a change of the "top independent automaker"?

On November 17th, Geely Automobile (00175.HK) released its third - quarter financial report. During the reporting period, the company achieved a revenue of 89.2 billion yuan, a 15% increase quarter - on - quarter and a 27% increase year - on - year. The single - quarter revenue reached a record high.

The core net profit attributable to the parent company reached 3.96 billion yuan in the third quarter, a 19% increase year - on - year. The cumulative net profit in the first three quarters reached 10.62 billion yuan, a 59% increase year - on - year.

Dai Qing, the rotating president of Geely Holding Group, revealed at the earnings conference that in the third quarter, the profit per vehicle of Geely Automobile reached 5,200 yuan, showing a further increase compared to 4,700 yuan in the first half of the year.

Geely Automobile's sales target for 2025 is 3 million vehicles. This target was initially set at 2.71 million vehicles at the beginning of 2025. Due to the better - than - expected market performance in the first half of the year, it was officially raised to 3 million vehicles in August 2025. As of October 2025, Geely Automobile's cumulative sales had reached 2.477 million vehicles, a 44% increase year - on - year, completing 83% of the annual target.

△Briefing of Geely Automobile's financial report. Source: Geely's official website

Fierce competition among "leading independent brands"

In October, the year - on - year sales growth rate of Geely Automobile reached 35%, with monthly sales exceeding 300,000 vehicles. The youngest brand, "Geely Galaxy", contributed the most to its sales. Currently, its sales account for more than 40% of Geely Automobile's three major brands.

Geely Galaxy's cumulative sales in the first 10 months of this year exceeded 1 million, achieving the annual sales target set at the beginning of the year ahead of schedule. It has also become the fastest - growing new - energy brand in China to reach annual sales of 1 million vehicles.

Meanwhile, Geely is also rapidly increasing the production capacity for Galaxy. According to media reports, Galaxy will transform SAIC - GM's Shenyang Beisheng Factory to produce Galaxy models, and at the same time, it is also transforming Lotus' Wuhan Factory for the same purpose. Regarding the production capacity plan for Galaxy, Times Weekly interviewed relevant personnel from Geely Automobile, but as of press time, there has been no response.

The gap between Geely Automobile and BYD, the sales champion, is constantly narrowing. Data from the Passenger Car Association shows that in October, Geely's retail sales were only 30,000 vehicles less than BYD's. Dai Qing added in the earnings conference call, "Last year, our average market share was only about 8%, while the market share of the 'leading enterprise' was close to 16%. By October this year, Geely's market share exceeded 11%, and the market share of the 'leading enterprise' dropped to 14%, narrowing the gap to 3 percentage points."

In the eyes of the outside world, Geely Galaxy's market strategy is to compete with BYD. For example, Galaxy E5 competes with BYD Yuan, Galaxy Xingjian 7 EM - i competes with BYD Song, and Geely Xingyuan competes with BYD Seagull.

At the technical brand level, in the first battle at the beginning of 2025, focusing on equal access to intelligent driving, BYD launched "Tian Shen Zhi Yan", and Geely quickly followed with "Qian Li Hao Han". In terms of hybrid systems, Geely's EM - i and EM - P are in direct competition with BYD's DM - i. In the field of in - vehicle systems, Geely's Flyme Auto and BYD's DiLink are also rivals. The two sides are in direct competition at all levels.

In addition to domestic competition, both leading independent automakers are actively seeking external growth. According to customs statistics, in October, BYD exported more than 80,000 vehicles, holding an absolute advantage in scale. Geely's overseas expansion plan is also progressing steadily. It has entered new markets such as the UK and Uzbekistan and has also made solid progress in Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia and other places. On November 3rd, Geely's cooperation with Renault was officially completed, and it entered the overseas market in a new mode. It is reported that Geely acquired a 26.4% stake in Renault Brazil, sharing its factory production capacity and market network, and targeting the Brazilian market first.

Gan Jiayue, the CEO of Geely Automobile Group, said that most of Geely's exported models are still fuel - powered vehicles this year. Next year will be the first year for Geely to export new - energy vehicles, and it is expected that 50% of Geely's sales will come from overseas. By 2027, Geely's overseas sales target is to exceed 1 million vehicles.

On the verge of a breakthrough for "One Geely"

Compared with the aggressive sales strategy of the Galaxy brand, Lynk & Co and Zeekr, which are in the process of integration, are still looking for their comfort zones. Bearing the mission of "going up, up and up" for the group, how to manage the mid - to - high - end brand of Zeekr is Geely's next challenge.

The financial report shows that the total delivery volume of Zeekr and Lynk & Co in the third quarter was approximately 140,000 vehicles, a 13% increase year - on - year. The revenue during the period was about 31.6 billion yuan, a 9.4% increase year - on - year. The gross profit reached 6 billion yuan, a 50% increase year - on - year, and the gross profit margin reached 19.0%, a 5.1 - percentage - point increase compared to 13.9% in the same period last year.

Among them, Lynk & Co's cumulative sales from January to October 2025 reached 281,685 vehicles, a 24.3% increase year - on - year, completing 72% of the annual sales target. In the first ten months, Zeekr brand only completed half of its annual sales target, with a growth rate lower than that of Galaxy and Lynk & Co, which follow a more affordable pricing strategy.

In the market segments with an average price of 100,000 yuan (Galaxy brand) and 200,000 yuan (Lynk & Co brand), Geely is already "comfortable and confident", but it still seems a bit struggling with Zeekr. According to Geely executives, in the pursuit of technological excellence, they somewhat neglected the interaction with users. "Zeekr was not a perfect brand in its early days, but the automotive market is a long - distance race like a marathon."

However, Geely's multi - brand strategy adopted during its rapid development has also led to problems such as lack of brand focus and scattered resources. Now, Geely has shifted to the "One Geely" strategy and started to integrate resources. The merger of Zeekr and Lynk & Co is one step in this process. Geely Group executives said at the earnings conference that they expect to complete all equity transfers before the end of this year, and after that, the group's costs will be further optimized.

Geely and Zeekr have realized these problems and are actively responding through strategic integration, cost reduction and efficiency improvement. From the recent financial reports, Zeekr's losses are narrowing, and the group's overall gross profit margin is also on the rise.

Regarding the rectification measures, Gan Jiayue introduced that after August this year, the Zeekr team strengthened communication with users and shared information on product and technology iterations with them.

According to insiders, Zeekr has recently made large - scale adjustments to its sales channels. It has added 50 direct - sales stores, mainly located in second - and third - tier cities, and effectively improved the conversion rate through user services such as "home test drives". From the sales data in October, it can be seen that Zeekr has indeed experienced a rebound.

This year, Zeekr's "Series 7" and "Series 9" products have increased the brand's overall average price. For example, the flagship SUV Zeekr 9X in the 500,000 - yuan price range has achieved a delivery volume of 20,000 vehicles in more than one month after its launch.

Gan Jiayue said that next year will still be a big year for Geely's product launches. There will be 1 - 2 new products launched in each quarter, which will bring comprehensive growth to Geely Automobile.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Times Weekly" (ID: timeweekly), author: Zhao Lingwei, published by 36Kr with authorization.