Geely buys Zhongyu Special Vehicles Maker
Geely, fresh from their DSI Transmission and Volvo purchases, have taken on yet another company. This time their purchase has been closer to home, specifically in Zhejiang province. Geely’s latest purchase is Zhongyu Automotive, a relatively small producer of modified vehicles, but they do have a production capacity of 100,000 vehicles per year and a JV with Mercedes-Benz.
Zhongyu was a subsidiary of the Zhejiang Zhongyu Group. Zhejiang Zhongyu Group was founded in 1989 and had an initial focusing on lighting. Zhongyu later got involved in real estate projects, electricity, advertising, and then car production. Zhejiang has also colaborated with General Electric and Mercedes in some areas, notably the car producing sector.
Geelys purchase of the Zhongyu Automobile sector has given them a new production base in Wuhan and also access to high end MPV technology. Their takeover of Volvo may gave Geely the premium credentials that they need to further develop a relationship with Mercedes Benz in China. Zhongyu Auto has a fairly well established dealership network across Eastern and Central China, which will be of slight benefit to Geely.
Quick links: Zhongyu Automobile (in Chinese) and Zhongyu Group (in English)
Tweet This
Share on Facebook
Digg This
Save to delicious
Stumble it
RSS Feed
And so consolidation trudges onward. But a nice move by Geely to show appreciation for Beijing’s approval of its purchase of Volvo.
The now defunct Wuhan Grand Motors was the springboard for Zhongyu’s auto industry foray. Later Zhongyu spearheaded the Luxgen JV with Yulon before Dongfeng stepped in and acquired a stake. Meanwhile the tie between Yulon and Geely grows tighter as they share Panda models production.
Geely is smart.