Approaching the Lunar New Year, the official announcement of Geely Automobile followed. After recently debunking the reduction of Daimler shares, it has been "debunked" again because of a rumor about the acquisition of Maserati by foreign media.
In the official reply of Geely obtained by the auto headline app reporter, Geely officially clarified the rumors of foreign media. Recently, Italian media reported that Geely intends to acquire the Alfa Romeo and Maserati brands owned by Fiat Chrysler (fca), which has attracted widespread attention. In order to clarify the facts and avoid the spread of false reports, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group hereby announces that the company has no plans to acquire the above brands, nor has it carried out any commercial contacts or negotiations related to this. The company's current focus is to focus on the existing core business, further lay the foundation for internal strength, continuously improve innovation ability and sustainable development ability, and provide users with a more excellent consumer experience. ”
Obviously, for the current hot Internet celebrity brand, Geely, which has frequently made moves in overseas mergers and acquisitions in recent years, has become the focus of various gossip in foreign media. Whether it is Li Shufu's "automotive industry bidding farewell to single-handedness", or Geely's successive actions for Volvo, Proton, Lotus and Daimler, it seems that it has also become a "reason" for foreign media to chase Geely when to strike again.
Li Shufu and Geely's grand strategy of integrating global resources and jointly enhancing Geely's overall competitiveness is obvious to all, and many details of their previous contacts with FCA Group have been reported by foreign media. Automotive News once reported that in order to expand overseas business, Geely Chairman Li Shufu had negotiated with FCA in mid-2017, but due to different views on the future valuation of Fiat Chrysler, the two sides did not agree on the merger.
In May 2017, Li Shufu personally went to Turin, Italy, to meet with the Agnelli family behind the FCA Group, the Agnelli family owns 29% of the shares and 42% of the voting rights of the FCA Group, and John Elkann, chairman of the FCA Group and heir of the Agnelli family, participated in the discussion, but all parties said that this was an ordinary business meeting, and it is not known whether it specifically involves the acquisition of the FCA Group.
In addition to this meeting in Turin, Italy, representatives of Geely and FCA have also conducted follow-up negotiations in London, England, according to people familiar with the matter. Geely's initial offer was $20 billion, which included Geely buying shares in the Agnelli family and other shareholders, bringing it to a 71 percent stake. Subsequently, Geely raised the offer to $22 billion, but the two sides still did not agree.
At the same time, the Alfa Romeo and Maserati brands have performed poorly in recent years, and they are even more precarious in the Chinese market, which may also become one of the motivations for the Italian media to "re-mention the old things".
In the increasingly fierce competition in the Chinese car market, Alfa Romeo and Maserati brands have encountered Waterloo one after another, especially Alfa Romeo, and the sharp price reduction is difficult to hide the dilemma of the defeat of the Chinese market, and the dealer channel is even more complaining. In contrast, Volvo after Geely's merger and acquisition has made great changes in the global market, including the Chinese market.
In 2018, Volvo Car Group's global business reached a new high of 642,253 units, up 12.4% from 571,577 units in the same period last year. This is the first time that Volvo Cars' global sales have exceeded the record of 600,000 units since its founding in 1927, and the fifth consecutive year that Volvo Cars has set a global sales record.
With the concept of coordinated development and large-scale operation, Volvo relies on Geely Group to be remarkable in terms of financial performance. According to the data, its operating profit in the second quarter of last year reached SEK 4.2 billion, an increase of 28.6% year-on-year, and its turnover in the second quarter reached SEK 66 billion, an increase of 26.9% year-on-year. However, fca's net income in the Asia-Pacific region fell 33% year-on-year to EUR 652 million during the same period, while adjusted EBITda lost EUR 98 million.
Facts have proved that Geely Group has the ability to turn the brand on the verge of bankruptcy into a profit and return it to the track, which is the "script" that the Italian media and the public expect to repeat in Alfa Romeo and Maserati, and at this time, the news of Geely and Alfa Romeo's contact with the Maserati brand is also a certain "psychological factor".
However, at this time, after the negotiations with FCA were fruitless, Li Shufu and Geely quickly acquired shares in Daimler with skillful capital techniques to become the largest single shareholder, and cooperated with Daimler in the Chinese market by virtue of their status as shareholders. This makes it drift away from FCA.
In October last year, Daimler Mobility Services Co., Ltd. and Geely Group (New Business) Co., Ltd., managed by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, announced that the two sides would form a joint venture in China to provide high-end chauffeur-drive travel services. According to the agreement between the two parties, the joint venture company will be headquartered in Hangzhou, and the shareholding ratio of the two parties will be 50:50. It plans to provide high-end car services in some cities in China, and the use of high-end models will include, but is not limited to, the Mercedes-Benz brand.
Regardless of the influence in the industry, or the strength of technology research and development, fca and Daimler are naturally difficult to speak the same day, and the probability of Geely eating "back grass" again at this time is obviously not large, and Geely's announcement also clearly stated that the company has no plans to acquire the above brands, nor has it carried out any business contacts or negotiations related to this.
It is worth noting that Geely's announcement also clearly expressed the company's current development strategy, that is, "focus on the existing core business, further lay the foundation to practice internal strength, continuously improve innovation and sustainable development capabilities, and provide users with a more excellent consumer experience." This is the same idea conveyed in Li Shufu's New Year's Day speech.
In his New Year's message, Li Shufu wrote emphatically, "All our work must be carried out around the automobile industry, which is the core industry of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, and we must further concentrate on becoming stronger and bigger to form a global competitiveness." This is the logical starting point for all Geely's work in 2019.
From this logical judgment, it is "inappropriate" to buy and acquire brands such as Maserati again. After its subsidiaries already own Volvo, Lotus and Proton, and invested in Daimler, how to digest these mergers and acquisitions and capital actions, how to form a "chemical reaction" between these brands, should be the focus of Li Shufu and Geely's current thinking, rather than "eating" the new brand.
Not long ago, Li Shufu and Geely just implemented a new round of Lotus revival plan, Bloomberg reported that Geely intends to speed up the revival of the Lotus brand, according to people familiar with the matter, Geely may invest at least 1.5 billion pounds to accelerate the development of the Lotus brand. In June last year, Feng Qingfeng, vice president and chief technology officer (cto) of Geely Automobile Group, became the CEO of Lotus Group, and Geely executives "took over" Lotus, marking the beginning of Geely Group's comprehensive blood transfusion of the Lotus brand.
At the end of last year, the first new car, the Proton x70 launched by Geely Holding Group after strategically acquiring a stake in Proton, was officially listed in Kuala Lumpur. The Batch Proton x70 will be produced at Geely's Chunxiao Manufacturing Plant in Ningbo, China, and will be localized at Proton's Tanjung Marin plant in Malaysia. Tanjung Marin Automobile Industry City was established by Proton in 2000 with a design capacity of 1 million vehicles, which is the landing of Geely's entry into the Southeast Asian auto market through Proton.
"Focusing on existing business and practicing internal skills" is the main line of Geely's strategy in 2019, which is also the logical chain transmitted by Geely's official rumor-busting merger and acquisition of Maserati.
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