China’s Geely sets up joint venture with French carmaker Renault - PingWest

China’s Geely sets up joint venture with French carmaker Renault

China’s Geely sets up joint venture with French carmaker Renault

14 hours ago

On Tuesday, China’s prominent carmaker Geely and French automobile manufacturer Renault SA announced their new partnership — an equally held joint venture dedicated to gasoline-powered engines and hybrid technology.

The JV is expected to create 19,000 job opportunities at 17 powertrain factories and three research and development hubs, with a final agreement and official launch set in 2023, according to Reuters.

This wouldn’t be the two’s first partnership — In January, Geely announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Renault to establish a long-term strategic partnership, which included launching a new model line in the Korean market, with initial plans to focus on developing and selling internal combustion and hybrid vehicles in core markets such as Korea.

According to the plan, Geely and Renault's new vehicles will be produced by Renault Samsung's plant in Busan, South Korea, and are expected to be mass-produced in 2024 for the South Korean as well as overseas markets.

In addition, in May this year, Geely announced that it would subscribe 45.375 million shares in Renault's Korean subsidiary, Renault Korea Motors, for 1.376 billion yuan. Geely holds 34.02% of Renault Korea Motors after the transaction was completed.

Notably, Renault is not the only European carmaker that Geely has connected with. At the end of September, Geely acquired a 7.6% stake in the British luxury car brand Aston Martin.

The deals would likely benefit Geely, the rising EV maker, in terms of expanding its overseas presence, especially when Europe is considered a popular destination for Chinese EV makers.

Founded in 1986 by Chinese entrepreneur Li Shufu, Geely has largely benefited from the explosive growth of EVs in China. In the first 10 months of 2022, the company’s total new energy vehicle sales reached 249,500 units, up 377.6% year-on-year. In October alone, the company sold 31,100 units of new energy vehicles sales, which amounted to 20.41% of Geely's overall sales.

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