Geely and Volvo to pool together

The automotive world looks set for another car-making mega group, with China’s Geely Automobile looking to pull its stand-alone Volvo business under its own umbrella.

If this works, Geely would be in a position to do the same with its other brands, including Lynk&Co, Proton, Polestar and Lotus, along with its LEVC electric-taxi offshoot and its Geometry new energy business.

In a statement today, Geely Holding Group Chairman Li Shufu insisted pulling the brands together would accelerate their financial and technical development.

"A combination of the two companies would result in a strong global group," Shufu said.

The Group would be listed on the stock exchanges of Stockholm and Hong Kong, where Geely already trades.

Pulling just those two brands together would create a US$30 billion group, about the same value as Ford, with more than two million annual sales, which would put its volumes on par with BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

Volvo sold more than 700,000 cars last year, while Geely Automobile sold 1.36 million, ranking as the highest-selling Chinese brand for three years in a row.

Geely Holding retains a 9.7-percent slab of Benz’s parent, Daimler (along with 49.9 percent of Proton and the majority holding in Lotus). Geely’s parent, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, bought Volvo from Ford in 2010.

It has gone from strength to strength under Geely’s stewardship, an now has three assembly plants in China, where its sales are five times stronger than they were under Ford.

The signs have been there for a while, with an October, 2019 announcement by Volvo that it would merge its engine development and manufacturing with Geely to supply Lotus, LEVC, Proton and Lynk&Co.