Motors Tracker

Smart Automobile, a joint venture between Geely Holding Group and Mercedes-Benz, has named the top executives who will lead a new European subsidiary. Daimler veteran Dirk Adelmann has been appointed as CEO of Smart Europe and   Martin Günther,an experienced finance and controlling executive in Mercedes-Benz’s aftersales division, will serve as its chief financial officer, Smart Auto’s parent companies said in a joint statement yesterday. “After holding several executive sales and marketing roles in the global Mercedes-Benz network, Dirk Adelmann successfully transformed Smart into an electric-only brand on the retail level,” they said. The   wholly owned   unit will be   headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, and will be in charge of the brand’s supply, sales and aftersales service in Europe. Smart Automobile’s   global operations will be run out of the Hangzhou Bay New Area of Ningbo in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, with marketing centers in China and Germa...

Geely Automobile Holdings is delaying its planned merger with Sweden's Volvo Cars because of the Chinese automaker’s plans for a secondary listing in Shanghai, according to a media report. The pair will resume merger talks this fall, The Paper reported today, without disclosing its sources. Geely and Volvo said in February that they were exploring a combination, with a view to issuing shares in Hong Kong and Stockholm. Geely Automobile and Volvo are two independent units of Geely Holding Group which bought the underperforming Gothenburg-based automaker from Ford Motor in 2010. Geely Automobile's board has approved a proposal to sell new shares on the Nasdaq-like Star Market, Shanghai's year-old science and technology board, making up 15 percent of the total outstanding, the Hong Kong-listed firm said on July 17. In the first half of this year, Volvo lost SEK989 million (USD110 million) amid the Covid-19 pandemic after reporting net profit of SEK5.5 billion (USD620.3 million...

Anhui Zhongding Sealing Parts will supply the heat management system for new energy vehicle powertrains of car giant Geely in batches in a project worth CNY1.9 billion (USD270 million), Zhongding said in a statement on July 6. Zhongding will furnish the cooling system for Geely’s NEV GHS2.0 hybrid, which Geely and Volvo Cars jointly developed, and which will also equip 17 other hybrid models including the Volvo Link, per the statement. The project will be implemented by Zhongding’s Tristone Flowtech Group unit. Tristone is a high-end supplier of vehicle heat management systems Zhongding formed in 2017 after spending EUR170 million (USD192.2 million) to buy out France-based Tristone Flowtech Holding. Tristone develops heat management systems for engines and batteries, per the statement. Zhongding has actively expanded its NEV parts market in recent years. Its well-known domestic and overseas customers include Tesla, Jaguar Land Rover, and other carmakers, as well as lithium battery ...