Beijing: Zhejiang Geely Holding Co having won backing from Chin-ese officials to buy Volvo Car Corp, will now seek to wean bureaucrats from Audi AG sedans to make the deal a success.

Geely intends to boost Volvo sales in China, the world's largest auto market, ninefold to 200,000 a year within five years, Chairman Li Shufu said on Sunday, after the company agreed to buy Volvo from Ford Motor Co for $1.8 billion (Dh6.6 billion). A key market may be the Chinese government, which spent 80 billion yuan (Dh42 billion) on official vehicles in 2008.

"Volvo has an image of being high-end and low-key, which is perfect for a government official's car," said Yu Bing, an analyst with Pingan Securities Co in Shanghai. "It may pose more of a threat to Audi and BMW."

Volvo's Chinese ownership may boost the brand's appeal to local bureaucrats who were criticised by the public last year after Germany-based Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz were added to a list of approved car vendors. Volkswagen AG's Audi, the biggest supplier of official cars in China, get about 20 per cent of local sales from the government.

"Geely's got very strong support from both the central government and local government," said John Zeng, a Shanghai-based IHS Global Insight analyst.

Winning official car orders is "the first step" in turning Volvo around, he said.

Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd, the company's listed unit, gained 1.5 per cent to HK$4.16 (Dh1.96) in Hong Kong on Monday. The stock has risen more than sixfold in the last 12 months

Luxury carmakers have increased their focus on China as economic growth and surging incomes have helped the country withstand a slump in global premium-sedan sales. Audi's China sales surged 33 per cent last year to 157,188 units, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

China will likely pass Germany as the automaker's biggest market by around 2012, with sales of 250,000 a year, Audi has said.

"Of course, we're following the developments," Audi spokeswoman Esther Bahne said by phone from Ingolstadt, Germany. Volkswagen AG spokesman Michael Brendel wasn't available for comment.

Audi's parent Volkswagen AG is the largest overseas passenger-car maker in China having opened a venture in the country in 1984, one of the first backed by a foreign automaker. Volkswagen now has tie-ups with the two biggest domestic Chinese automakers, Shanghai government-controlled SAIC Motor Corp and China FAW Group Corp.

That history and existing fleets of official Audi cars may hamper Geely-Volvo's efforts to break into the government sector, said Zhang Xin, an analyst with Guotai Junan Securities in Beijing.

"It won't be easy for Geely to challenge Audi's leading position."

BMW and Mercedes were added to an approved list for central government officials' cars last year, sparking complaints on websites. The list comprises more than 35 automakers, including local carmakers, Geely, SAIC and Chery Automobile Co. Volvo wasn't on the list, which is updated each year in June by a central procurement office.

A telephone operator declined to connect a call to the procurement centre, saying the number isn't available to the public. Local authorities have separate lists of suppliers.

The government planned to cut official expenses on vehicles by 15 per cent in 2009 from the average of the past three years.

Chinese ownership may deter individual buyers in China seeking to show off their wealth by purchasing expensive foreign cars, said Koji Endo, managing director at Advanced Research Japan in Tokyo.