‘ Lucky’ move for UK carmaking
Geely is the biggest car maker you've never heard of – and it has a huge stake in Britain's future.
The Chinese firm has just invested $ NZ500 million in a factory in Coventry to build electric versions of the iconic London cab.
It is also planning a venture to sell a different type of car, one that you can run and pay for in much the same way you would a mobile phone.
Geely also owns Volvo – and British drivers love a Volvo.
Perhaps this is why the firm's boss, Li Shufu, is so keen not to let his views on the UK's decision to leave the European Union get lost in translation. So he repeats them – over and over again.
“I don't think Brexit will have any negative impact on the relationship between China and the UK. We can continue this relationship well into the future.”
Li, chairman of China's biggest privately owned car- maker, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, is a thoughtful speaker who chooses his words carefully as he gestures with his hands.
Li founded Geely – which means “lucky” in Mandarin – in 1986, and it has become one of the world's fastest- growing automotive empires. It is also spearheading the advance of Chinese cars into Britain.
His vote of confidence in Britain comes days after Nissan reassured the Government that two new models would be built at its plant in Sunderland. He is launching an upmarket Chinese car brand for the UK, US and Europe called Lynk & Co, created by British design chief Peter Horbury.
Li has also held talks with UK sports carmaker Lotus over a possible collaboration. And Geely just became the major sponsor for a British land- speed record bid.
He was speaking in Shanghai where he announced a factory in China that will build Volvos and the Lynk & Co models.
A Volvo plant in South Carolina in the United States is also planned as part of global expansion. Geely has unveiled a top- of- the- range three- seat Volvo S90 limousine that dispenses with the traditional front passenger seat. Instead there will be a pop- up touch screen to create more room for the VIP in the back.
Li's growing Chinese car empire began when the entrepreneurial baby- boomer moved into the automotive sector in 1997. Li Shufu, chairman of Zhejiang Geely Holdings, left, and Hakan Samuelsson, of CEO of Volvo Cars.
He was part of a generation of Chinese who were encouraged by the Communist regime's “open door” policy in the 1980s to adopt capitalist business principles to help their nation catch up with – and then overtake – the West.
Born in Taizhou City in China's Zhejiang province in 1963, Li gained a BSc degree in management engineering and a masters in mechanical engineering before starting his career in refrigerator and fridge parts manufacturing. He switched to motorcycles in 1993 and four years later moved into car- making.
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group has expanded rapidly over two decades. Li's Geely group bought Sweden's Volvo Cars from Ford in August 2010, and Britain's London Taxi Company out of receivership from Manganese Bronze Holdings in 2013 after a six- year joint venture.
The new generation of green, all- electric taxis, codenamed TX5, officially begins production in the first half of next year.
The current TX4 taxis were previously manufactured and exported as knock- down kits in Shanghai for final assembly in Coventry.
Last year Geely Auto sold 700,000 vehicles, and it plans to hit 2 million by 2020. Volvo sold about 500,000 but intends to increase that to 800,000 by 2020, with up to a third of them built in China.
Volvo sells 44,000 cars a year in the UK but wants to boost that to 60,000 by 2020.