Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd. history, profile and corporate video
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd., known as Geely Holding, is a Chinese multinational automotive company headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
Geely is a phonetic transliteration of the company’s native name 吉利 (pinyin: Jílì), which means “auspicious” or “propitious” in Chinese.
Geely History
Geely was founded in 1986 by Eric Li (Li Shufu) in Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, China as a refrigerator parts manufacturer.
In 1994, the company began manufacturing and selling motorcycles.
In 1996, Geely Group was established to bring all Geely enterprises under one group.
In 1997, the company entered the automotive industry and Geely Auto was founded.
In 2001, Geely received the license from Chinese authorities and became the first private carmaker in China.
In 2003, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group was established with all of Geely’s automotive businesses placed under it.
In 2005, Geely Auto became the first Chinese automaker to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
In 2010, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group acquires 100% of the shares of Volvo Car Corporation from the Ford Motor Company.
In 2013, Geely Holding acquired 100% control of Manganese Bronze and its subsidiary, London Taxi International and its joint venture in Shanghai.
In 2016, Geely Holding Group announced the establishment of the Geely New Energy Commercial Vehicles (GCV) to consist of the commercial vehicle brands Yuan Cheng Auto and London Taxi Company.
In 2017, Geely acquired the American flying car company Terrafugia.
In June 2017, the company signed an agreement to acquire a 49.9% stake in Malaysian automaker PROTON and acquire a 51% controlling stake in luxury sports car brand Lotus from DRB-HICOM Berhad of Malaysia.
In December 2017, Geely became the largest holder of share capital in Sweden’s leading commercial vehicles and industrial engineering group, Volvo AB.
In 2017, Volvo Cars and Geely Auto form the LYNK & CO joint venture.
In 2018, Geely Holding Group chairman Eric Li purchased stake in Daimler AG.
In 2018, Geely Holding Group, Tencent, and China Railway launched China Railway Gecent Technology Co., Ltd (Gecent) to develop and operate an integrated one-stop platform which will provide WiFi and other value-added services to high-speed rail customers across China.
In 2018, the company completed the acquisition of a controlling 52% stake in Saxo Bank, the leading fintech specialist provider of multi-asset trading and investing.
In 2020, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely Holding) and Mercedes-Benz AG (Mercedes-Benz) announced that they formally established the global joint venture “smart Automobile Co., Ltd.” for the smart brand after receiving the regulatory approvals.
OPERATIONS
Geely Holding owns and manages a number of brands, including Geely Auto, Lynk & Co, ZEEKR, Geometry, Volvo Cars, Polestar, Lotus, London Electric Vehicle Company, Farizon Auto, Cao Cao Mobility, and others.
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group is split into several units operating in the following sectors:
Passenger Car
- Geely Auto Group operates and manages the following brands: Geely Auto, Geometry, Lynk & Co, and PROTON.
- Volvo Car Group is made up of two Swedish brands, Volvo Cars, and Polestar.
- Zeekr Intelligent Technology operates and manages the electric mobility technology and solutions brand Zeekr and its ecosystem affiliates.
- Lotus Group is a majority-owned subsidiary that operates and manages the Lotus Car brand and Lotus Engineering.
- smart Automobile manages and operates the global joint venture brand formed by Geely Holding Group and Mercedes Benz AG.
- London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC) is a British producer and developer of zero-emission electrified taxis, vans, and RVs.
Commercial Vehicle
Geely New Energy Commercial Vehicle Group (GCV) is a new energy commercial vehicle technology and service focused division
- Farizon Auto – development of new energy commercial vehicles.
- Hanma Technology – development of heavy-duty vehicle chassis, powertrains, commercial vehicle parts, heavy specialized vehicles, new energy commercial vehicles, passenger cars, and other vehicles.
- Ouling Auto – offers light-duty trucks and specially modified vehicles.
- Green Intelligent – a smart commercial vehicle mobility services provider.
- Oneworld Technology – a smart commercial vehicle and green IoT service provider.
- Soland Technology
Technology
- Geely Technology Group acts as an incubator for young brands giving them access to Geely global resources.
- BSKY is an aluminum material processing and material science research group.
- Joinnet Energy is a wholly-owned innovative energy provider under Geely Technology Group. Joinnet Energy applies new technologies and industrial know-how in energy production, transmission, and communication. The company operations encompass the entire energy distribution value chain from generation (supply), network (transmission), storage (trading), load-balancing (demand tracking), and end-user delivery (transaction) through innovative application of AI, big data, IoT, blockchain, and other technologies.
- Yiyi Internet Technology is a charging and battery swapping facility operator and smart energy ecosystem developer.
- Aerofugia operates multiple brands including Terrafugia, AOSSCI UAV, etc.
- Terrafugia is a company focused on the innovation, engineering and production of flying cars and future technologies.
- Geespace is a provider of satellites, related infrastructure products, and application solutions.
- Qianjiang Motor is one of the largest producers of motorcycles in China and owns several renowned brands, including Italy’s Benelli. They are also known for their lithium battery technology developed for vehicle usage.
Motorsport & Culture
- Mitime Group focuses on diversified investments and operations in the fields of motor speed parks, sports activities, and cultural tourism.
Mobility Services Division
- CAOCAO is a new energy-focused mobility services platform.
- Starrides is a 50:50 joint venture between Daimler Mobility Services and Geely Technology Group. It offers high-end mobility services in select cities in China. The vehicles used by the service will include but not limited to Mercedes Benz S-Class, E-Class, V-Class, Maybach sedans, and high-end pure electric models from Geely Holding Group.
Finance
- Genius AFC is a joint venture between Geely Automobile Holdings Limited and BNP Paribas Personal Finance which provides financial products and services for licensed dealers and car buyers.
- Wisdom Leasing is focusing on auto financing.
- SaxoBank focuses on multi-asset trading and investment, and offers corporate customers Banking-as-a-Service.
- Saxo Fintech is a joint venture between Saxo Bank and Geely Sweden Holdings dedicated to providing financial and regulatory technology solutions to Chinese financial institutions and investors.
Education
- Geely University of China
- University of Sanya
- Xiangtan Institute of Technology
- Sanya Institute of Technology
- Zhejiang Automobile Technical College
- Hunan Geely Technical College, etc.
With more than 120,000 global employees, Geely Holding has ranked among the Fortune Global 500 for many years in a row.
*Information from Forbes.com, Wikipedia.org, and zgh.com.
**Video published on YouTube by “Geely Myanmar“.