Mercedes-Benz, Geely Come Together To Produce 'Intelligent' Electric Vehicles In China

Daimler AG’s DDAIF Mercedes-Benz and Geely Automobile Holdings GELYF, a subsidiary of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co Ltd, are launching a China-based joint production for electric cars, according to Reuters.

What Happened

Mercedes-Benz and Geely on Wednesday said they would form a 50-50 China-based venture, in which each partner would invest $388.77 million (2.7 billion yuan) to build “premium and intelligent electrified” vehicles.

The production will operate from the Chinese coastal city of Ningbo and has already received regulatory green light, said the two partner companies in a statement.

The cars will be manufactured in China and then sold in both China and Germany.

Geely will mainly handle engineering of the vehicles, while Mercedes-Benz will take care of the design and overall look of the cars, they said.

Why It Matters

The announcement comes just a month after Germany’s Bayerische Motoren Werke AG BAMXF and China’s Great Wall Motor Co Ltd GWLLF established a jmade a deal to produce electric Mini-branded cars in China. 

Geely’s expansion has mainly been through M&A activities. The company purchased Ford Motor Company’s F Volvo unit in 2010 and started a ride-hailing venture with Daimler in 2018.