Geely CK: for the first time, a Chinese car is the best-selling outside China

For those who don’t care much what kind of car they buy, as long as it gets them from one place to another, brands such as Great Wall or Geely fulfil the requirements perfectly. The 723 owners of the Geely CK in Ukraine are probably thinking the same thing, since the Chinese model was the best seller in July in that country.

This typical Chinese saloon sold better last month than other models that traditionally sit near the top, such as the Hyundai Accent or the Skoda Octavia, and it is the first time a Chinese model has topped the sales charts in a continental European country.

Geely could place more models on the best-seller lists if we look at other models in the same country: the Geely Emgrand EC7, Geely MK, MK-2 and Geely SL also sell well, even though the Ukrainian market is fairly modest and not comparable with other countries.

Could these figures be a sign of things to come? Chinese cars still have a long way to go before they reach the same levels of popularity, reliability (and safety) as other brands, but it seems like a good start. In Spain, the BYD F3DM, an electric car, is already on sale, which is unexpected given that one would have expected a low-cost car instead.