25/02/2019
The field of electric vehicles has attracted new attention
Daimler and Geely are discussing cooperation in the field of electric vehicles. Daimler's future electric smart is likely to be manufactured and developed in China, while Geely intends to cooperate with Daimler in the production of electric smart cars, which are currently under negotiation. Previously, Daimler's other partner in China, Beiqi, was also interested in working with Daimler on smart cars.
In fact, since February 2018, Geely Chairman Li Shufu purchased 9.69% of Daimler's voting shares with about $9 billion, and became Daimler's largest shareholder, rumors about the cooperation between the two sides have continued and are being implemented step by step.
In August last year, Li Donghui, director, executive vice president and CFO of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd., disclosed that Geely has been discussing with Daimler the three major areas of electrification, automatic driving technology and future automobiles, and has set up several projects to communicate.
Later, in October 2018, Geely and Daimler announced that they would form a joint venture in China to provide high-end private car travel services. In February, there was news that Geely and Daimler were negotiating to expand their cooperation. Yang Xueliang, vice president of Geely Automobile Group, confirmed the authenticity of the news on his personal social media account.
Behind Geely's and Daimler's announcement of discussions on expanding the scope of cooperation, there is a growing desire for transformation between the two sides. A few days ago, Daimler Financial Services Co. CEO Entenman said that Daimler Group is ready to continue to promote the transformation; Zhejiang Geely Holdings Co., Ltd. President Anconghui also mentioned that Geely will be transformed from an automobile manufacturer to a global automotive technology group.
And in the field of electric vehicles, or the best choice for cooperation. Geely has been working on developing a new architecture for electric vehicles and hopes to make it available to other car manufacturers. At the end of last year, Daimler Group said it would buy more than $23 billion worth of batteries by 2030 for mass production of hybrid and electric vehicles. If bilateral cooperation is achieved, it can further promote the realization of planning objectives.