(Yicai Global) July 5 -- Following Huawei Technologies’ success at selling cars in its phone stores, Meizu Technology, the Chinese handset maker acquired a year ago by an affiliate of car giant Geely Holding Group, plans to follow suit with Geely’s premium electric vehicle brand Lynk & Co.

Meizu will sell midsize sports utility vehicle Lynk & Co 08, the marque’s first electric vehicle equipped with the Meizu Flyme Auto System, at four of its stores in the cities of Wuhan, Xi’an, Ningbo, and Zhenjiang from July 8, the Zhuhai-based smartphone firm said on Weibo yesterday.

Telecoms behemoth Huawei has been selling Aito-branded electric cars in nearly 1,000 of its phone shops. Thanks to Huawei’s exposure, Aito sold 75,000 units last year, becoming the new energy vehicle brand with the fastest-growing sales.

Meizu had almost 400 certified stores in China at the end of last year. The firm will accelerate the layout of its offline channels to open more than 1,000 new outlets within the next three years, it said late last year.

Xingji Shidai Technology, the investment company owned by Geely founder Li Shufu, bought a 79.1 percent stake in Meizu in July last year.

Lynk & Co was co-established by Geely and Volvo Cars. Between the time its first product hit the market in 2017 and last November, it had sold more than 800,000 vehicles.

Editor: Futura Costaglione