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After acquiring Volvo, billionaire Li Shufu from Taizhou, Zhejiang, began to keep a low profile in public.
From 2010 to 2018, a full eight years. On the marketing and PR levels, Geely mostly focused attention on the "Geely" brand, not on the boss. Although this person dubbed "Li the Ford" by foreign media never lacked stories, he suddenly went quiet.
Quiet enough that many thought he had indigestion.
Until February 24, 2018, when Geely officially confirmed it had become the largest shareholder of Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler AG, the outside world once again looked at this "car maniac" with a baby face.
But before this, what exactly happened in these eight years?
The answer is only two words: Digestion.
1
The moment after signing was when the real test began.
The whole world was watching the show: a Taizhou farmer swallowed a Swedish elephant. Everyone waited to see the capital chain break, waited to see Volvo taken down by Geely, waited to see how this private enterprise that hammers on car bodies would die in the arrogance of Europeans.
Li Shufu did not respond. He did something no one expected — let go.
He said Geely and Volvo have a "brotherly relationship", not a "father-son relationship". He even compared this acquisition to the love story of "a rural youth and a movie star".
The first time I heard this metaphor, I found it harsh. It was too humble. Why put himself in such a low position when someone who spent $1.8 billion to buy the other party?
Later I understood. This posture is not inferiority, but a very high wisdom. He understood respect, understood delegation, understood "governance through inaction". He knew if he, like other Chinese buyers, rushed to rebrand, rushed to integrate, rushed to move the HQ back to Hangzhou after buying, then Volvo would die. Die from not fitting in, die from cultural conflicts, die from a nouveau riche's vanity.
He wasn't vain. He only wanted one thing: Time.
By the end of 2012, Geely and Volvo signed a technical agreement and began attempting technical exchanges regarding vehicle air quality control systems and automotive safety innovation technologies. In 2013, Geely established a European R&D center in Volvo's headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden, announcing the joint development of the new vehicle architecture CMA platform with Volvo.
At the beginning of the Gothenburg R&D center establishment, there were only about fifteen people. After a few years of development, the R&D team reached nearly two thousand people.
Fifteen years turned into two thousand people. Behind this number is the trust Li Shufu built with real money. He did not rush "technical feedback", nor forced Swedish engineers to draw blueprints for Geely. He just let people from both sides sit together, drink coffee, argue, grind, and then slowly learn how to build cars together.
In these six years, Geely learned how to build cars. Not with hammers, but with a system.
CEVT (Geely European R&D Center) located in Lindholmen Science Park, Gothenburg, Sweden
2
If you are not a car fan, you might find it hard to appreciate the shock of that night in April 2015.
That day, Shanghai. Geely released a new car — Borui.
Before this, where was the ceiling for Chinese brand sedans? Around 100,000 yuan. Above that, it was the realm of joint venture cars. Passat, Accord, Camry, that was the unyielding "Iron Triangle". Consumers bought domestic cars because they were poor; bought joint venture cars because of face/reputation. This was the underlying rule at the time.
But Borui came out.
The designer of that car was Peter Horbury, former VP of Volvo Group, who started serving as the overall head of Geely Group Design in 2011. Look at the body lines, that ripple-style intake grille, that heaviness, completely unlike a domestic car worth more than 100,000 yuan. It stood there like a person wearing a custom suit who mistakenly walked into a group wearing cheap T-shirts.
Borui was the first model under Geely to introduce Volvo's safety technology concept. Later it possessed six identities: civilian car, new energy vehicle, police car, military car, diplomatic limousine, foreign official car, known as "Great Beautiful China Car".
The market gave the most honest feedback. Borui became an instant hit upon listing, selling over 10,000 units monthly. More importantly, it broke that curse — originally Geely really can build good cars. Originally domestic cars really can be sold at 150,000 yuan, 180,000 yuan, and people still fight to buy.
On the night I wrote the Borui review at the newspaper, I stared at that front face for a long time. The water ripple style grille, not imitating anyone, it grew out. It grew bit by bit from the rain at Tiantong Temple in 2001, from the office in Gothenburg with only 15 people in 2010.
That was the first thunder of Li Shufu's "technical feedback" strategy.
December 2014, Geely held the "Insightful New Edge of the Era" launch event in Beijing, GC9 was officially named "Borui".
3
If Borui is "thunder", then Lynk & Co born in 2017 is "nuclear explosion".
August 4, 2017, Geely Automobile, Volvo Car Group officially signed an agreement at the Hangzhou Bay R&D Center to establish Lynk & Co Automotive Joint Venture Company. In the new company, Geely Automobile holds 50% shares, Volvo Car holds 30%, Geely Holding Group holds 20%.
Lynk & Co is a "half-breed" of Geely and Volvo. It uses the CMA architecture jointly developed by both parties. This architecture gave Geely the ability to wrestle with Volkswagen MQB and Toyota TNGA overnight.
But what I focused on was not the architecture. I focused on the temperament.
Lynk & Co is not like a traditional Chinese brand, nor a traditional European brand. It has a very strange temperament — urban, cold, with a bit of cyberpunk edge. Split headlights, through-type front face, interior materials are bold enough not to look like a new brand. It changed 4S shops to "Lynk & Co Centers", decorated like a combination of cafes and trendy brands. It did subscription models, did communities, did user co-creation.
These things today are standard for new car forces, but in 2017, traditional car companies playing like this was heresy.
Lynk & Co became popular, wildly popular. It pulled Geely completely out of the "cost-performance" swamp, pulled it into the circle of "brand premium". Those young people who originally planned to buy joint venture compact SUVs turned around and walked into Lynk & Co Centers. Not because it was cheap, but because it was cool.
Only then did everyone realize Li Shufu's chess game was too big. He was not building a car, he was building a system, a system that can continuously incubate high-end brands.
October 20, 2016, LYNK&CO premiered globally at STATION BERLIN in Berlin, Germany, white 01 concept car appeared on stage, symphony orchestra and Chinese drum performed together.
Front view of Lynk & Co 01 concept car at Berlin launch event, CMA architecture debuted publicly for the first time.
4
With money and technology, Li Shufu's "shopping cart" couldn't stop. But in these few years his buying method changed. Before it was "buy what you lack", now it is "buy after seeing clearly".
In 2017, he went to Malaysia, signed 49.9% shares of Proton Auto. Also grabbed 51% shares of Lotus.
Many people didn't understand why buy Lotus. That British brand making sports cars, at that time poor as a church mouse, sold only hundreds of cars a year.
But Li Shufu understood. What he focused on was Lotus's expertise in chassis tuning and lightweight design. That was the "sports gene" Geely lacked most. Legend on F1 tracks, ancestor of aerodynamics, with pure bloodline but couldn't even eat. Li Shufu picked it up, not for sentiment, but to complete the last puzzle piece.
Then it was 2018. Investing in Daimler. This might be Li Shufu's most "sexy" operation.
As an individual, Li Shufu has a Mercedes complex. He has expressed more than once that Mercedes is the best car in the world. Since starting car making, Li Shufu's ideal was to make "China's Mercedes".
In 1998, how did Geely's first car "Geely No. 1" come about? It was Li Shufu disassembling his Mercedes car, workers holding "Mechanical Design Manual", assembling parts themselves according to drawings.
Just imagine this scene: a Taizhou private enterprise boss, dismantled his sedan into eight pieces, a group of people squatting on the ground, facing the manual, hammering out a "Mercedes" piece by piece.
Who could imagine, 20 years later, this poor boy who dismantled Mercedes back then, can wave checks, become the largest shareholder of Mercedes.
February 24, 2018, Geely Group announced that it had acquired 9.69% voting shares of Daimler AG through its overseas enterprise entity via the company, spending nearly $9 billion, leaping to become the largest single shareholder.
The news came out, global shock. The entire acquisition began in September 2017, taking about half a year. Led by investment banks including Industrial Bank, Morgan Stanley, purchasing in the secondary market adopting direct buying and borrowing shares methods. The daily trading volume was not large enough to affect Daimler's stock price, the whole process "silent".
Like a surgery. Precise, calm, leaving no traces.
Li Shufu said in a CCTV interview: "We must achieve cooperation, this equity investment only makes sense. Any of our investments, any equity ownership, must achieve strategic cooperation, must serve our core industries." He also predicted that in the future world traditional auto industry only 2-3 enterprises can survive, whoever occupies the technical high ground, who is the winner.
But this time is different. For Li Shufu, he is Volvo's genuine big boss, while this invested Mercedes is just stock market shopping in the secondary market. Whether he can enter the board in the future, or even participate in company management in the future, everything depends on how things go.
Germans are actually much harder to deal with than Swedes.
But he doesn't care. He never cares how hard others are to deal with. He only cares if his cards are enough.
5
Time comes to 2020.
In this year, Geely announced officially turning from Premium Car 3.0 Era to "Tech Geely 4.0 Era", releasing the SEA Grand Architecture, stepping into the era of comprehensive architecture-based car manufacturing.
Looking back from the end of 2020, you will discover a shocking fact: ten years ago, Geely was still a "grassroots" struggling in the mud; ten years later, Geely has become a huge automotive empire owning Volvo, Lynk & Co, Proton, Lotus, Mercedes-Benz shares.
Li Shufu completed his transformation.
He is no longer that reckless youth who said on CCTV "four wheels plus two sofas", nor that tragic hero who swore in the rain in front of Tiantong Temple. He became an experienced, deep, and sharp-eyed global automotive tycoon.
"The Wall Street Journal" once evaluated him "There is a natural peasant wisdom on him, and his personality is complex".
Indeed. On one hand, his ambition lies in making Geely a "world-class automotive brand", on the other hand he is humble, even after acquiring Volvo, still believes this is the love of "rural youth and movie star".
With only a high school diploma, he is also an amateur poet, he likes to write some slogan-style, heaping strong emotion modern poems. He is also a red wine connoisseur wearing cheap shirts, fingers thick and short, but plays Guzheng well, he also fanatically likes playing basketball.
This person has never been simple.
