Geely


Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd, commonly known as Geely, is a Chinese privately held multinational automotive company headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. The group was established in 1986 and entered the automotive industry in 1997 with its Geely Auto brand. It sells passenger vehicles under the Geely Auto, Lotus, Lynk & Co, PROTON, and Volvo brands as well as commercial only vehicles under the London EV Company and Yuan Cheng Auto brands. The group sold over 1.5 million cars in 2018.
Geely Group has been manufacturing its own cars before it owned the Swedish passenger car maker Volvo Cars since 2010, when it acquired the company from Ford. It completed the acquisition of British taxi maker The London Electric Vehicle Company in 2013, and acquired a majority stake in British sports carmaker Lotus Cars in 2017.
ZGH business is divided into five sub-groups: Geely Auto Group which includes the brands Geely Auto, Lynk & Co, PROTON, and Lotus; Volvo Car Group which includes the brands Volvo Cars and Polestar; Geely New Energy Commercial Vehicle Group which include the brands London Electric Vehicle Company and Yuan Cheng; Geely Group which includes the brands Caocao, Terrafugia, Qianjiang Motorcycles, Joma, and other new businesses; and Mitime Group which includes ZGH educational institutions, motorsports business, and tourism business. ZGH has global operations spanning the automotive value chain, from research, development and design to production, sales and service.
Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd , a subsidiary of Geely, is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. On 13 February 2017, it became a constituent of the Hang Seng Index.

Name

Geely means "auspicious" or "lucky" in Chinese.

History

Founding Geely in 1986 as a refrigerator maker with money borrowed from family, Li Shufu transformed the company into a success selling inexpensive products to Chinese consumers.
After the purchase of a failing, state-run firm, Geely manufactured motorcycles in the mid-1990s. Small van production began in 1998, and a year later, it received state approval to manufacture automobiles. Car production began in 2002. A subsidiary of the group, Geely Auto, had its IPO on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong in 2004.
The company had a booth at the 2005 Frankfurt Motor Show, and a 2006 showing at the Detroit auto show.
Geely approached Ford in mid-2008 about a possible takeover of Volvo Cars. On October 28, 2009, it was named as the preferred buyer of Volvo by the American automaker. A deal was reached in late March and completed in early August, 2010.
In 2010, total sales of over 415,000 units gave the company a near 2% market share. Sales were lower than a reported 680,000 units per year production capacity.
In December 2011, it was announced that Geely would begin selling Chinese-designed and -manufactured cars in the United Kingdom at the end of 2012, with the first model to go on sale being the Emgrand EC7. The company has also stated its intention to begin sales in Italy.
In May 2017, Geely confirmed plans to purchase a 51% controlling-stake in Lotus Cars from its owner, DRB-HICOM. Additionally, Geely plans to purchase a 49.9% stake in PROTON Holdings, to facilitate future export growth in right-hand drive markets. The deals were seen as an important step for the Chinese carmaker in their quest to make inroads into the lucrative ASEAN region.
In July 2017 the company purchased Terrafugia, an American maker of flying cars. In November 2017, Geely announced completion of the Terrafugia acquisition, including approval from all relevant regulators.
In December 2017, Geely invested €3.25 billion into Swedish truck and construction company Volvo Group, a former parent company of Volvo Cars. The deal made Geely the biggest shareholder by number of shares with an 8.2% stake, and second by voting rights, with 15.6%.
In 2018, Geely purchased a 9.7% stake in Daimler AG, owner of the Mercedes-Benz brand.
In September 2019, Geely led a round of private funding for Volocopter that raised $55 million for the company. Volocopter's other private investors also include Daimler AG which owns a stake in the company.
In late July 2020, it was announced that the Xingma Group had agreed to transfer a 15.24% stake of its shares in the Ma'anshan-based heavy truck manufacturer Hualing Xingma to Geely New Energy Commercial Vehicle Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Geely Holdings. After the transaction, Geely New Energy Commercial Vehicle Group would become the de facto controlling shareholder of Hualing Xingma.

Operations

Based in China, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group operates all over the world through its many subsidiary brands. The Group's core business activities are within the automotive industry where it controls the following automotive groups and vehicle brands:
Other non-automotive businesses are managed under Geely Group. The Group also has cultural and educational business under its Mitime Group.

Subsidiaries and brands

Geely Auto Group

Seven brands are managed under the Geely Auto Group, Geely Auto, Lynk & Co, Polestar, PROTON, Lotus and Volvo Cars.
Geely Auto – Listed as Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and controlled through holdings in Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. Geely Auto is ZGH's mainstream brand primarily sold in China and select overseas markets.
Geometry - an electric only range of Geely-based cars.
Lynk & Co – Owned 50% by Geely Auto, 30% by Volvo Cars, and 20% by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. Lynk & Co is a new globally focused high-end car brand based on technology developed jointly by Geely Auto and Volvo Cars.
Polestar - Polestar was founded by Polestar Racing, now called Cyan Racing, as the performance vehicle division in Volvo Cars to explore how the technology behind their racing success could be applied to Volvo road cars. In 2017, Polestar became an independent brand under Volvo Cars focused on high-performance electrified cars, and in 2018 was spun out into its own entity, controlled 50% by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group and 50% by Volvo Cars.
PROTON – Owned 49.9% by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group and 50.1% by DRB-Hicom and is managed by Geely Auto Group. PROTON is the National Car Brand of Malaysia established in the 1980s at the behest of the government and later reverted to private ownership under DRB Hicom.
Lotus Cars – Owned 51% by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group and 49% by Etika Automotive. Lotus Cars is a British producer of sports and racing cars. The first Lotus car was built in 1948 and in June 2017, Lotus Cars became majority owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.
Volvo Cars – Volvo Cars is 99% controlled by Zhejiang Geely Auto Group through subsidiaries since its purchase from Ford in 2010 for approximately US$1.4 billion. Volvo is one of the most well-known and respected luxury car brands in the world, ranking ahead of Lexus and Infiniti in a 2019 survey by U.S. News.

Geely New Energy Commercial Vehicle Group

Geely New Energy Commercial Vehicle Group began with the full acquisition of the London Taxi Company from Manganese Bronze Holdings. The brands under Geely New Energy Commercial Vehicle Group are London Electric Vehicle Company and Yuan Cheng Auto
London Electric Vehicle Company – The London Taxi Company, which was acquired by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group in 2013, changed their name to London Electric Vehicle Company in 2017 to reflect their new mission of developing and producing electric commercial vehicles. With a new factory in Ansty, Coventry, they have begun production of a new generation of zero emission capable new taxi vehicle in late 2017.
Yuan Cheng Auto – Yuan Cheng Auto was formed in 2016 to focus on the development of new energy commercial vehicles in China and has already launched several long range capable truck and bus solutions.

Non-automotive subsidiaries and brands

Geely Group (new business)

CAOCAO - CAOCAO ride hailing service was developed by Hangzhou YouXing Technology Company and majority owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. It is the first Chinese new energy focused mobility service.
Terrafugia - Terrafugia was founded in 2006. The company was acquired in full by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group in 2017.
Zhejiang Qianjiang Motorcycle Group Co – Qianjiang Motorcycles was majority acquired by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group in 2016. The company is one of the largest producers of motorcycles in China and own several renowned brands including Italy's Benelli. They are also known for their lithium battery technology.

Mitime Group

Education - ZGH has invested hundreds of millions of RMB in establishing universities and colleges across China including the Beijing Geely University, Sanya University, Zhejiang Automotive Technical School, Hunan Geely Automotive Technical etc. The wider group has over 40,000 students enrolled within its schools with the goal of developing Chinese automotive industry talents.
Motorsports – Mitime constructs and operates race tracks for automobiles, motorcycles, and karts around the world. Mitime also organizes motorsport events such as China F4 Championship.
Tourism – Mitime facilitates tourism and manages hospitality services around its tracks.

Production facilities

Headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, Geely has production bases in Lanzhou, Gansu ; Xiangtan, Hunan; an unnamed location 40 minutes south of Shanghai; Jinan, Shandong province; and at Linhai, Luqiao, and Ningbo, in Zhejiang.
As of 2011, two Volvo manufacturing plants were planned in Daqing and Chengdu, and work on a transmissions-making factory in Tongliang, Chongqing had been initiated.
At least four overseas factories assemble Geely models probably from semi-complete or complete knock-down kits. Such facilities are or have been located in Indonesia,, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Russia, Belarus, Tunisia, and Ukraine. These locations are not necessarily affiliated with or owned by Geely.

Manganese Bronze

Establishing a joint venture with this British maker of London Black Cabs in 2007, Geely purchased in 2013 Manganese Bronze Holdings, initially trading as The London Taxi Company, and subsequently as London EV Company.
The joint venture, Shanghai LTI Automobile Components Co Ltd, made the TX4, a licensed London Black Cab, in Fengjing, Shanghai, and exported semi-complete knock-down kits for assembly in the UK.

Drivetrain Systems International

In 2009, Geely bought Drivetrain Systems International Pty Ltd, a global transmission developer headquartered in Australia.

Products

Passenger cars

ZGH sells passenger cars under five brands currently: Geely Auto, Lynk & Co, PROTON, Lotus, Volvo, and Polestar, Volvo's Electric Performance Vehicle Subsidiary.
Many of Geely's early products were based on the Xiali, a variant of the 1987 Daihatsu Charade. Models such as the Haoqing , Merrie , Uliou , and Urban Nanny have Charade bases, but feature a more prominent chromed grille.
A sense of humor imbues the names of some Geely vehicles. One sedan is called the "King Kong", and an early model was named You Li Ou, a play on words that means "better than the Tianjin Xiali or the Buick Sail", two of its competitors.

Geely Auto products

Geely Auto is the group's original brand. Geely Auto products are divided into three eras from 1.0 era, 2.0 era, 3.0 era. Before the current 3.0 era, Geely Auto products were also sold under different brands, including Emgrand, Englon, Gleagle, and Shanghai Maple. After entering the 3.0 era, all other brands were discontinued and their some of their products consolidated under the Geely Auto brand.

Current Geely Auto products

Current products sold under the Lotus brand included:
Products sold under the Lynk & Co brand included:
Current products sold under the Volvo brand included:
Current products sold under the Polestar brand included:
Current products sold under the Zhidou Auto or ZD Auto brand included:
Geely has sold cars under at least three separate brands and may have continued to use the brand name of a purchased company for a short time. The Emgrand, Englon, and Gleagle names were phased out in 2014 alongside efforts to reduce sprawl, and the Shanghai Maple brand name was discontinued in 2010.

Previous Geely Auto products

Emgrand was launched in 2009 as a medium to high-end luxury brand. In 2014 Emgrand ceased to be a stand-alone brand, and Emgrand became a sub-grand of Geely, which itself adopted an updated version of the Emgrand logo.
Products sold under the Emgrand brand included:
Launched in 2010 and replacing the Shanghai Maple brand, the company claimed Englon emulated classic, British style, and its model line included a TX4 sold on the Chinese market. Some of its cars were built by Geely subsidiary Shanghai LTI. As Geely fully acquired The London Taxi Company in 2013, the emblem of Englon also became the new logo of The London Taxi Company.
Gleagle was an entry-level brand.
Some Gleagle cars, such as the Gleagle Panda, were available for sale on the Internet in China via the Taobao Mall, a popular e-commerce site. While Geely would deliver the car to the customer's address, buying one of the Panda models on offer did necessitate a trip to a traditional dealer.
Products sold under the Gleagle brand included:
Gleagle products include:
This brand name was affiliated with Shanghai Maple Automobile, a Geely subsidiary established in 1999. It was replaced by the Englon brand in 2010.
Products sold under the Shanghai Maple brand included:
Geely sells commercial vehicles under the brand LEVC, through its British subsidiary London Electric Vehicle Company currently.

LEVC brand products

Current products sold under the LEVC brand included:
Geely manufactures a number of motor scooters and motorcycles from 50 to 250 cc displacement.

Product gallery

Geely

Geometry">Geometry (car marque)">Geometry

LEVC">London Electric Vehicle Company">LEVC

Lotus">Lotus Cars">Lotus

[Lynk & Co]

[Polestar]

Proton">PROTON Holdings">Proton

[Terrafugia]

Volvo">Volvo Cars">Volvo

Emgrand (discontinued)

Englon (discontinued)

Gleagle (discontinued)

Shanghai Maple (discontinued)

Dealer network

Geely refers to its dealer network as 4S stores and also sells some models online. In 2014, it had a reported 900 retail outlets.

Sales

Markets

In addition to China, Geely vehicles have been sold in Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Egypt, Indonesia, India, Iran, Kuwait, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Syria, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, and Venezuela. In a number of markets, Geely vehicles are assembled in local factories from complete knock-down kits. Geely is also marketed in Lebanon, through the Rasamny Younes dealership network.
The Cuban government has purchased a considerable number of Geely vehicles, and they are pressed into service as police patrol cars or tourist taxis throughout Havana.
The Geely automobile brand was touted to be launched in the United Kingdom in late 2012. However, this plan was not pursued to date anymore and the official website had been offline since mid-2014.

Figures

In 2010, Geely surpassed its 400,000-vehicle sales target goal for the first time selling 415,286 cars of its 680,000 units/year production capacity prompting the company to set its 2011 sales target at 480,000 cars, a 16% increase.
Geely Auto Group reported annual sales of 1,24 million cars in 2017, an increase of 63% from the previous year. Due to strong 2017 sales, Geely Auto Group has subsequently set its 2018 sales volume target to 1.58 million.
Geely Auto Group reported annual sales of 1,500,838 units in 2018. This year marks the first time that Geely Auto has breached sales of 1.5 million units.

Design and R&D

Geely Auto Group has four independent design centres in Shanghai, Gothenburg, Barcelona and California as well as four R&D centres in Hangzhou, Ningbo, Coventry, and Gothenburg capable of independently researching and producing full car parts, engines, transmissions and electrical systems. In Gothenburg, the group has established CEVT, a joint research and development centre between Volvo Cars and Geely Auto to create an industry leading compact modular architecture. The company has also invested in establishing colleges across China including the Beijing Geely University, Zhejiang Automotive Technical School, Hunan Geely Automotive Technical. The company has students enrolled within its schools with the goal of developing Chinese automotive industry talents. In 2013, 16 trainees from this program started their careers in Geely Group.

Safety record

A small Geely sedan, the CK, performed badly in an informal crash test conducted by a Russian magazine in 2007. As a result, Geely reviewed its expansion plans. A 2009 1.3-liter Geely CK 1 model without airbags earned a zero-star rating in a Latin NCAP crash test on protecting adult occupants in front seats.
In 2010, the Geely LC scored 45.3 points of a possible 51 in the China-NCAP crash tests, making it China's first locally researched and developed mini car to be awarded a 5-star rating, and the safest Chinese hatchback as of 2011.
In 2011, the Geely Emgrand EC7 earned a 4-star rating in a Euro NCAP crash test. In 2015 the Geely Borui received 5 stars in C-NCAP crash testing.

Controversies

The 2009 Geely GE concept received criticism for looking like a Rolls-Royce and the Geely LC, for similarities to Citroën C1 or Toyota Aygo.
An unsuccessful lawsuit was brought against the company in the early 2000s by Toyota, which claimed Geely had "implied in ads that some of the parts were made by Toyota". Geely may also have previously used a logo that resembled that of Toyota.