Tag Archives: Geely

News

Geely took over Polestar from Volvo

In 2017, Volvo jointly with the Chinese company Zhejiang Geely Holding Group founded Polestar, a brand of electric cars. Six years later, the Swedish manufacturer announced that it was selling its share to a Chinese company, as it failed to establish itself in the electric car segment.

Although Volvo will no longer fund Polestar, the two brands will continue to collaborate on development and research, production and after-sales services. At the same time, Thomas Ingenlath, the head of Polestar, expressed his enthusiasm for the idea of Geely becoming the new majority and direct shareholder of this young company. The decision had a positive reaction from Volvo brand investors. After that, Volvo shares rose 40 percent.

All models launched by Polestar are based on Volvo technology. An example is Polestar 2, the first battery electric vehicle and mass production Polestar vehicle in the Volvo Car Group, premiered in 2020. It is offered in combination with one or two electric motors. The base version is powered by a single electric motor with 224 hp (165 kW) and 243 lb-ft (330 Nm). It is equipped with a 64 kWh battery pack that enables a range of up to 440 kilometers (WLTP). The most powerful version is powered by two electric motors with 408 hp (300 kW) and 487 lb-ft (660 Nm). It is equipped with a 78 kWh battery pack that enables a range of up to 480 kilometers. It also has AWD.

When it comes to future models, the Polestar 3 entered production at the end of last year, the Polestar 4 crossover coupe will arrive in 2024, while the Polestar 5 luxury sedan is expected to arrive in 2025.

Source: Volvo

News

China is the world’s largest car exporter

Japan has been the world’s largest car exporter for decades, but it was only a matter of time before another Asian giant (China) took over that position. This happened in 2023 when, according to official data, China exported one million cars more than Japan.

The development of the automobile industry in China is expanding, primarily fully electric vehicles, which are killing competition worldwide with low production costs and subsidies provided by the Chinese government. This has led large manufacturers to find partners in China or open their own plants, and increase competitiveness in the world market. “If you can’t beat them, join them.”

China has become a big “problem” for most developed countries that are trying to protect their own car manufacturers. Some of them, like the French one, canceled subsidies on new electric cars produced in China, in order to protect domestic manufacturers. This is also expected from other EU members. According to Bloomberg Intelligence, if the other members adopt the same decision, it could threaten the import of electric cars and small commercial vehicles in the amount of almost 7 billion dollars. The fact that in 2023 it exported 5.26 million vehicles, excluding exports to the USA, shows how serious the success of the Chinese industry is. Chinese manufacturers exported the most cars to Russia and Mexico, but also to Europe.

When it comes to the domestic market, sales of fully electric cars increased by 21% while sales of plug-in hybrid cars increased by 83%. The leader is BYD with 3,024,417 vehicles, making this company one of the top 10 largest car manufacturers in the world. The second largest manufacturer was Chery with 1.88 million cars, while the third was Geely with 1.62 million vehicles. Also, in Q4 of last year, BYD surpassed Tesla in terms of sales of battery vehicles.

Source: Reuters