MERCEDES-BENZ

Li Shufu imposes his condition for Mercedes 

Little by little, Li Shufu expands his empire in the automobile area. The Chinese wanted to join Daimler and, despite the resistance, ended up winning, being today the largest shareholder in the German group, with 10% of the shares. A reflection of its” weight " at Daimler is the fact that Smart is now officially a Chinese brand based in the city of Nigbo. The business was approved a few days ago by the local regulator, which means that 50% of the capital is now owned by Geely, which will be responsible for producing The Future Smart from 2022.
But Shufu wants to further strengthen the ties that bind Geely to Daimler. According to Manager Magazin, the entrepreneur wants to set up a new business unit where Geely and Volvo, which has been part of the Chinese group since Ford sold it in 2010, are trying to develop and sell engines to third parties. Mercedes, which already has an arrangement of this kind with Renault for the four cylinders, ranks as a potential customer.
Driving units are one of the elements in which manufacturers have to invest the most, especially at this stage, when motor vehicles are obliged to comply with increasingly demanding emission regulations, which leads to technology increasing complexity and... cost.  Almost all manufacturers are open to ways of reducing this investment, not least because money must be channelled into electricity mobility. These, moreover, are the plans made public by Volvo, which wants to completely abandon combustion, which would leave it this 'parcel' to sell to other manufacturers. Even Mercedes, being that Stuttgart welcomes this possibility, according to the aforementioned publication. It shows that negotiations have already taken place in this direction. However, the initial talks were not fruitful, which may change as Mercedes admits to being interested in small engines. Geely has us and Volvo too, namely the three 1.5 litre cylinders. Will Shufu take no for an answer?

Autonews