One look at the brand’s online presence(s) and the automaker may want to throw its website(s) into that retooling process as well.

While it is common practice and understandable that a China-based brand would maintain separate foreign-language websites, Geely seems to operate at least three different URLs that all have their separate shortcomings. Quite an accomplishment.

There is some good news to begin with, however. Geely’s global site, www.geely-global.com, appears at first glance to be by far the most professional and befitting a global automaker. Nothing stunning going on here visually which is fine—just a clean, appealing welcome. But closer inspection reveals immediate problems.

In the early 1990s, when business development in China was very much “ask questions later” (even more so than now), it was a common practice for Chinese entrepreneurs and investors to pay a male foreign (Caucasian) student a nominal amount, dress him in a suit, and have him show up alongside them at important business meetings as an “interested foreign partner.” The point of this was simply to lend legitimacy. With this old charade in mind, a humble first suggestion to Geely is to, at the very least, hire a foreign student studying at a local university who wouldn’t mind taking a hundred or so “quai” (about US$ 12) an hour a couple hours a week to polish sections such as “About Geely Brand” and “Event & News.” Case in point, all [sic]: “Rich and profound Chinese culture is the foundation of Geely’s sprite of pursuing continuous development.”

Where to begin with Geely’s official consumer-facing English sub-site? How about with the fact that the site features the image of an automobile but then only gives further information on motorcycles. There is a further section of this Geely.com English sub-site that comes up as the second search result: www.geely.com/english/index.htm. It is also of little use to a consumer, featuring brand history sections that could benefit from the advice of, once again, a competent copy editor [sic]: “On November 6,1986, Mr Li Shufu made its debut in manufacturing parts of refrigeratory.”

Finally, Geely’s Hong Kong English site includes several resources such as investment, promotional, and contact links below a cryptic “Sweet Life, Geely Drive” slogan. It is difficult to advise Geely on what to do about this site other than to recommend that, if asked about it, deny any involvement and declare that the company has filed actions to regain control of the domain from the punk teenagers who hijacked it with the intent of blackmailing the brand.

Taken together, Geely’s overall web presence not only poorly represents the brand’s products but also creates a feeling of brand illegitimacy, not unlike one of those Nigerian email scams with a company made to appear to be real so long as one doesn’t look too closely.

It is noteworthy that Geely’s main URL in Chinese is a fine site featuring the brand’s full line of autos and a large selection of clean links to further information about models, distributors, and other product specifics. But this is not the site that shows up when one Googles “geely,” which, according to Geely’s stated goals, could frustrate one-third of its potential future customer base. The brand would be wise to clean itself up online as soon as possible. Everyone knows the importance of first impressions. Especially consumers.