China's Geely Eyes GM's Saab, Ford's Volvo

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But in February the company replaced its CEO, former Dell (DELL) executive William Amelio, with his Chinese predecessor Yang Yuanqing, and signaled the company would refocus more on domestic sales. The 2004 purchase by Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. of a 51% stake in Korean automaker Ssangyong Motor ended with the Korean company seeking bankruptcy protection in January.

The disappointing results of many Chinese acquisitions overseas might make it harder for Geely or any other automaker from china to close a deal with Detroit. Talk of the Chinese coming to the rescue is just wishful thinking, says one industry analyst. "Right now, the foreigners are thinking the Chinese will pay huge prices and life will be great," says the analyst, who asked not to be named because of company policy. "But I don't think the government will allow it unless it's real cheap."

Working on its own, Geely has had some success in emerging economies, with the company selling in markets like Romania, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Peru. It exported 37,940 autos in 2008, an 80% increase over 2007, but that's just a fraction of the nearly 140,000 cars exported by domestic rival Chery Motors, which has global ambitions of its own. Geely also lags behind BYD, which has rolled out the world's first plug-in hybrid.

More recently, the global recession has put a damper on Geely's exports. In the first quarter of 2009, overseas shipments plunged 83%, to just 1,373 vehicles in 2009. Still, Ang is confident the company will achieve its export target of 40,000 in 2009 by penetrating new markets in Southeast Asia and Latin America.

Balfour is BusinessWeek's Asia correspondent. With Ian Rowley in Shanghai

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