Daimler is considering buying a stake in Volvo after Geely joined its shareholder base

According to various media reports, the Daimler Group is considering the possibility of acquiring a small shareholding in Volvo Cars, a company belonging to the Chinese Geely group. The news comes just a few months after the surprising and rapid entry of the owner of the Eastern group, Li ShuFu, into Daimler’s shareholder base. After acquiring a 9.7 percent stake in the German group’s capital, he thereby became its largest shareholder.

Apparently, and despite the agreements Daimler maintains with BAIC, the main competitor of the Geely Group in China, the German automotive group could soon begin supplying engines to Volvo Cars and even take a small stake in the capital of the Swedish carmaker, thus fuelling rumours of a greater future collaboration between Mercedes Benz and Geely. However, for now neither Daimler’s spokespeople nor those of Volvo Cars have wished to comment on the news.

At the end of last February, Li Shufu, CEO of the automotive group Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co (owner of numerous automotive brands, including Geely, Volvo,, Proton and many others) unexpectedly became the reference shareholder of the Daimler Group after secretly buying 9.7 percent of the capital of the German group. This move took both Daimler’s executives and the German government completely by surprise. With this manoeuvre, ShuFu sought to form an alliance that would allow his group to counter the strong push being made by new competitors in the automotive sector (Tesla, Google, Uber, …).

In any case, Daimler’s chairman, Dieter Zetsche, immediately met with his new shareholder to welcome him to the company as an investor. Following that meeting, he confirmed that any future industrial or commercial alliance with the Geely automotive group will depend on BAIC’s approval, its current partner in China. It should be recalled, however, that during the various sales processes in which Volvo Cars was involved a few years ago, and despite Daimler’s initial interest in the then Swedish company, the German group ultimately ruled out a possible acquisition of Volvo.