Geely 'open to collaborate' with other car firms in global expansion

The boss of Chinese car giant Geely, which owns Volvo, Polestar and Lotus, says the firm has no plans to launch any further new brands – but it is actively chasing partnerships with other manufacturers. Speaking at the Financial Times' Future of the Car summit, Zhejiang Geely Holding CEO Daniel Donghui Li said the company is “always open to collaborate and develop partnerships”. Zhejiang Geely Holding owns a large number of car firms and brands, which also include Geely Auto in China, new EV brands including Zeekr and Lynk&Co, and the British LEVC commercial vehicle firm. It also runs Smart in a joint venture with Mercedes-Benz, has a partnership with Renault in South Korea and last October bought a 7.6% stake in Aston Martin. Explaining the strategy, Donghui Li said: “Geely's ambition is to seek synergies, both with brands inside the group and with partners outside the group. We don't have to control everything – that's not realistic – and we respect partners from the automotive industry who have their own strong brands and long histories and reputations.” Geely recently agreed a partnership with Chinese rival Changan, which Donghui Li said was “another example” of its strategy. He added: “We take every company as a potential partnership instead of only competitors. “In the automotive industry, economies of scale are the most critical factor. Starting from six years ago when we developed new architectures such as CMA for combustion-engine and hybrid cars and SEA for pure-electric cars, we started to talk to peers from the industry, and we are open for them to use our technology or join our R&D process.” Donghui Li cited battery sales, charging facilities and battery swap machines as areas of potential joint cooperation with Changhan, noting: “If we just developed them ourselves, it would cost a huge amount of money and make customers suffer.” Geely was interested in buying Aston Martin in 2020 before the firm was sold to Canadian Lawrence Stroll, and speculation about a potential takeover bid increased after it bought a 7.6% stake in the firm late last year, prompting Stroll to increase his stake in response. But speaking about the firm’s interest in the British car maker, Donghui Li said: “We love the brand and we highly admire the long history of the brand, with a great reputation around the world. We also highly respect Lawrence Stroll and his brand-new strategy. “We invested into Aston Martin because we want to support it. We believe the brand will have a very bright future: we trust Mr Lawrence and also the main team for the company. We feel we can also generate synergies, which will benefit Aston Martin through Geely's involvement.”

main menu

Geely 'open to collaborate' with other car firms in global expansion

The Chinese manufacturing giant will not create new brands but instead look to develop partnerships

Add your comment

More from Autocar

Top 10s

Latest car reviews

Top manufacturers

Quick search

Legal bits

About Autocar

main menu

Geely 'open to collaborate' with other car firms in global expansion

The Chinese manufacturing giant will not create new brands but instead look to develop partnerships

Autocar Registration Block

Add your comment

More from Autocar

Top 10s

Latest car reviews

Top manufacturers

Quick search

We recommend

Legal bits

About Autocar