INSIDE INFORMATION
Jim Holder
Volvo has used Geely cash and technology to remarkable effect
HAS ANY MARQUE, Tesla aside, had a better decade than Volvo? It’s set to be floated imminently at a valuation of somewhere between £15 billion and £20bn, representing quite a return for Geely, which 11 years ago took the plunge on a £1.4bn purchase that many questioned the wisdom of.
Volvo was something of a basket case, selling a meagre 373,000 cars per year, all off architecture in urgent and expensive need of updating. In turn, Geely was an aggressive, left-field buyer, with owner Li Shufu’s rise from rural peasant to multibillionaire owing much to his individual entrepreneurialism.