NINGBO (China) April 26 — 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 and Geely New Energy Powertrain R&D Centre 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 (for collaboration). We can talk about the details,” she told Malaysian reporters during a media visit to Geely’s Research and Development Institute on Wednesday.

Methanol is an ideal source of energy, given its clean, easy-to-transport, and storage features. Environmentally, methanol fuel emissions are significantly lower than diesel.

Geely Holding Group is the largest developer and producer of methanol vehicles in the world.

The Group’s subsidiary brands have produced the Geely Auto Emgrand methanol sedan and Geely Commercial Vehicles, the Farizon M100 heavy truck; both have passed the ‘China VI’ emissions standards.

The automaker has unveiled about 20 methanol models in both passenger and commercial vehicles.

Geely has over 30,000 methanol vehicles on the roads with a combined mileage of about 10 billion kilometres, said the carmaker.

It is currently testing methanol-powered vehicles in Denmark to sell them in European markets.

Geely has a 49.9 per cent stake in Malaysia’s national carmaker Proton Holdings Bhd and is pursuing opportunities to produce more models to support the government’s green ecosystem initiatives.

The Geely-Proton partnership saw the launch of three sports utility vehicles (SUV), the X50, X70, and X90, and a compact sedan S70x.

X90 is Proton’s first new energy vehicle (NEV) offering lower fuel consumption, lower emissions and improved performance. — Bernama