Geely Automobile Holdings, China’s largest private passenger vehicle maker, is looking to incorporate its electric vehicle businesses into a separate company, company founder Li Shufu said.
“Geely will form a brand-new pure electric vehicle company to participate in the competition in the smart pure electric vehicle market,” Li said last week during an internal company meeting.
Geely later disclosed transcripts of what Li said at the meeting. Li is chairman of Geely’s parent company Zhejiang Geely Holding Group which also owns Volvo Cars.
Geely’s EV company is likely to be incorporated in Hefei in east China’s Anhui province, Shanghai-based China Business News reported this week.
Hefei, Anhui’s provincial capital, is home to Chinese EV startup Nio Inc.’s vehicle assembly plant and Volkswagen Group’s EV joint venture with Jianghuai Automobile Co.
Geely is based in Hangzhou in east China’s Zhejiang province and listed in Hong Kong.
In 2020, it delivered 1.32 million vehicles, a drop of 3 percent from 2019. The sales tally includes some 68,000 EVs, hybrids, plug-in hybrids and mild hybrids, Geely said, without detailing EV sales in 2020.