Lifan have hit the world stage like a tornado in Kansas, they’ve got from small time motorbike maker to one of the worlds largest motorbike manufacturers overnight, they’ve also started making a range of small sedans and a hatchback. China Car Times expects we’ll be hearing a lot more from Lifan over the next coming weeks.
Chongqing Lifan Industry (Group) Co, a Chinese motorcycle manufacturer-turned-auto maker, plans to raise more than one billion yuan (US$133 million) from a domestic share listing, the company’s chairman said yesterday.
Yin Mingshan, whose company is one of China’s biggest private auto makers, said Lifan has already begun preparing for its IPO and that it will most likely be in China. The IPO will be crucial to Lifan’s plan to boost production tenfold by 2015, from its forecast output for 2007 of 40,000 units, Yin said in Shanghai.
Seems like this news source is overstating Lifan’s size as an automaker. Although it has been active in reaching out in markets like Turkey, Albania,and Nigeria and planning CKD production in Russia and Iran, it doesn’t seem to have much of a model lineup. In fact the 520 sedan is the only one I can think of. Agreements with Zakspeed and Ricardo have yet to come to fruition. I hope to soon see Lifan’s expansion match Yin’s indomitable spirit. Maybe the IPO will be the springboard needed to put Lifan on the map.