Written by | Wu Xue
Editor| Yang Guang
Produced | Automotive Sankei
On February 1, Bloomberg reported that Smart Automobile Co., Ltd., a smart brand joint venture between Geely and Mercedes-Benz, is planning large-scale financing.
According to people familiar with the matter, the planned financing scale of 500 million to 1 billion US dollars, is still in the initial planning stage, the purpose of financing is to further promote the launch of smart brand pure electric models.
At the same time, the person familiar with the matter also said that the current fundraising appraisal value of Zhimada Automobile Co., Ltd. is 5 billion US dollars, and the financing is expected to attract other car companies and strategic investors to enter.
In March 2019, Geely and Mercedes-Benz announced that they will establish a joint venture to jointly operate the SMART brand globally and promote its transition to a pure electric brand.
In January 2020, Zhimada Automobile Co., Ltd. was officially established. The registered capital of the joint venture is 5.4 billion yuan, and the equity ratio of both parties is 50:50.
In July 2020, the global management team of the joint venture was officially confirmed and put into operation, with its headquarters in Ningbo Hangzhou Bay New Area and marketing centers in China and Germany.
A year and a half after the formal cooperation between the two sides, in mid-January 2022, the media exposed a group of smart motor's first model, smart genie #1 road attempts.
According to the previous plan, this model is based on Geely's vast SEA architecture, and the shape is from the Mercedes-Benz global design team. The new car, which is produced at Geely's Xi'an plant, is expected to be unveiled at this year's Beijing Auto Show and officially launched within the year.
Smart Genie #1 Concept Car
Bloomberg said that both Geely and Mercedes-Benz declined to comment on the financing. As the project progresses, details such as the amount of financing may be adjusted and changed accordingly.