SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's Geely Holding Group on Sunday said it aims to sell more than 5 million vehicles annually by 2027, a big jump from 2023, which it hopes to achieve by accelerating consolidation of its sprawling brands and improving efficiency.

The goal represents about 79% growth from 2023, when Geely Holding sold 2.79 million units of passenger cars and commercial vehicles. The group sold 3 million vehicles in the first 11 months of 2024, a 31% growth compared to the same period of 2023.

To achieve the goal, which could also put Geely among one of the top 10 automaking groups globally, it will further consolidate its sprawling passenger car brands into two units -- Geely Auto and Zeekr Technology -- to target the mass market and premium segments, respectively, it said in a statement published on Sunday.

It would also deepen alignment of research and development of key technologies in seven aspects including architecture, smart driving and cockpits and batteries among the group, which has made redundant investments with separate R&D team under each brand.

The Chinese company owned by billionaire Eric Li embarked on a series of strategic moves in September to focus on its main business of automaking after expanding into other sectors such as satellites, smart phones and banking in previous years.

In November, it announced the merger of Zeekr with its sister brand Lynk & Co as the first big restructuring move in a planned overhaul for the sprawling automotive group.