HANGZHOU - China's leading private-run carmaker, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, began selling cars online Monday to tap into the purchasing power of the nation's hundreds of millions of netizens.

Geely, which took over Volvo Car Corp this year, said in a statement that it has opened a flagship store on Taobao Mall, a major e-commerce website.

Geely added that it now sells Gleagle Panda-branded cars and planned to add more, including models specially designed for online customers and auto interior products, to its online store at a later date.

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Additionally, traditional dealers will offer test-driving and after-sales services to online customers, it said.

"The Internet, if well used, would bring a rather big surprise to Chinese automakers," said Liu Jinliang, vice-president of Geely.

Online shopping is becoming increasingly popular in China. The country had 420 million netizens as of June, while Taobao has 300 million registered users.