Geely appears open to the idea of increasing its stake in Volvo Group (which is a separate entity from the Volvo Cars division) but claims it doesn’t have any current plans to make changes.
While speaking with members of the media prior to Volvo Truck’s annual general meeting, Geely Sweden chief executive Hans Oscarsson stated that “anything is possible in the future” when asked about Geely potentially stepping up its position in the Swedish automaker.
Last month Geely divested its 6.3% stake in Daimler Truck Holding AG worth €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion). This move led to suggestions that Geely could increase its influence at Volvo AB, Auto News reports.
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Oscarsson failed to exclude the possibility of Geely taking on a more active ownership role in Volvo. It could do so by requesting a board seat or joining the nomination committee. As it stands, Geely owns 8.2% of the Volvo Group and 16% of votes. Oscarsson added that Geely is in “good dialog” with Volvo but said “for the time being, we have no intention to change our position in the company.”
While Geely has far from a controlling stake in the Volvo Group as a whole, it has a controlling 82% stake in Volvo Cars and as such, the car manufacturers have a close relationship and share many technologies and components. Earlier this year, it was revealed that Volvo plans to launch an all-electric minivan in China that will be based on the 009, built by Zeekr which just so happens to be owned by Geely.
Volvo Cars and Geely also operate a joint venture for their hybrid powertrains, dubbed Aurobay. The two had also established a joint venture in China to operate production facilities through China but in 2021, the Swedish carmaker bought itself out of the joint venture to take full ownership of the factories.
