Why Chinese Automaker Geely Is Best Positioned For the U.S. Market

[0:00] U.S. politicians, Republican and Democrat, are fighting to keep Chinese automakers out of America. [0:06] But some of these companies are already here. [0:10] There are more than 100 Chinese automotive firms with some kind of operation in the U.S., according to Dunn Insights, a consultancy which focuses on autonomous and EV markets. [0:20] BYD makes buses in California. [0:22] Chinese battery maker CATL has a deal with Ford to make EV batteries in Michigan. [0:27] But by far, the company probably best positioned to sell full cars in the U.S. right now is Geely, auto industry analyst told me. [0:36] That's because, in a way, it already does. [0:45] Geely is the only one that actually has a physical footprint already in the U.S. through those other brands. [0:52] So they've got the factory, they've got distribution network, they've got a supply chain. [0:56] The name Geely can refer to a holding company, a publicly traded OEM, and a brand, depending on the context. [1:03] Geely Holding is a large shareholder in three automakers that all operate in the U.S., Volvo, Polestar, and sports car maker Lotus. [1:12] Geely Holding owns 78.8% of Volvo's stock. [1:16] Volvo and Geely founder Li Shu Fu, who also goes by the name Eric Li, together control a large stake in Polestar. [1:24] Geely Holding controls 51% of Lotus. [1:27] It also has a smaller stake in Mercedes-Benz and in luxury maker Aston Martin. [1:31] While Geely Holding is Volvo's majority shareholder, a Volvo spokesperson said in an email that Geely does not manage or oversee any daily operations of Volvo cars or any listed companies it holds shares in. [1:44] Premium EV brand Polestar, which was spun out of Volvo, is also listed on NASDAQ. [1:49] Lotus is split between two entities, one public and one private, but the public company plans to acquire the privately owned piece. [1:55] And Geely Holding is the majority owner of both. [1:58] These companies also have deep ties in other ways. [2:02] Geely manufactures Lotus EVs in China. [2:05] Geely Holding's CFO is on Polestar's board. [2:08] And Geely founder Li Shu Fu is Volvo's chair. [2:11] Both Volvo and Polestar collaborate extensively with Geely. [2:14] And Volvo CEO Håkon Samuelsson said the relationship puts Volvo in a better position to compete with Chinese automakers than its peers. [2:23] In its annual report, Volvo said it wants to expand the relationship. [2:27] All three of these brands have dealership networks in the U.S. [2:31] Volvo also owns a plant in South Carolina. [2:33] A spokesman for Volvo told me he wanted to stress that Volvo Cars is the owner of the plant, not Geely. [2:39] But Volvo CEO Samuelsson reportedly said on April 29th that the company would be open to making Chinese cars at the plant, and it does have capacity. [2:48] That factory is vastly underutilized, said Sam Abu al-Sameed, who is a researcher at Telemetry Insights. [2:55] It's producing a fraction of its annual capacity of about 150,000 units. [3:00] Volvo does plan to grow those volumes. [3:01] It's introducing production of the hybrid XC60 SUV to the plant, which Abu al-Sameed estimates will add another roughly 45,000 units. [3:10] Volvo's America's president, Luis Resende, told me late last year that the company at the time was importing about 95% of the vehicles it sold in the U.S. [3:19] It wants to boost U.S. sales to 200,000 units a year and wants its Charleston factory to produce about 50 to 60% of that. [3:26] A likely candidate for a U.S. introduction might be Geely Auto's Chinese brand, Zeeker, kind of a performance-oriented premium brand. [3:34] Analyst Thule says might slot right in below Volvo. [3:38] Executives from Zeeker have said that they want to introduce the Zeeker brand into the U.S. market. [3:44] So that, you know, of the other Geely brands, and they have a whole range of brands, but the other Geely Group brands, that is the most likely one to be introduced into the U.S. market. [3:55] Zeeker already has a partnership with Waymo, which has been rolling out Waymo-equipped Zeeker vans in San Francisco. [4:01] Waymo also uses Jaguar I-Pay CVs and has plans to use vehicles from Hyundai and Toyota as well. [4:06] In China, Geely has become a rising star in the country's brutal domestic car market. [4:13] Shares surged in early March after the company outpaced its Chinese rival in sales two months in a row. [4:20] Worldwide, Geely Holdings brands sold close to a million vehicles in the first quarter of 2026. [4:26] Among Chinese companies, Geely is unusually at ease operating in markets that are quite different from China. [4:32] They've entered many markets in Europe, so they're gaining a lot more experience about being an international presence. [4:39] And so, but make no mistake, the jewel is the United States, where they all feel that it can be their most profitable market. [4:51] One of its challenges is that it might be stretched a bit thin across all of the different brands it is operating, Dunn Insights CEO Michael Dunn told me. [4:59] While Geely is definitely one of the best positioned to set up shop in the U.S., it's not alone. [5:05] Stellantis has a roughly 20% stake in Chinese automaker Leap Motor. [5:09] There's another opportunity to rebadge an existing vehicle as a Fiat or something that's more familiar to Americans, you know, and there's already an infrastructure in place. [5:21] Everybody in the industry outside of China is rightly scared of trying to compete with these companies. [5:27] Of course, Geely and every other Chinese automaker has to deal with sharp opposition from many in the U.S. government. [5:35] Speaking at the New York Automotive Forum in April, U.S. Senator Bernie Moreno called Chinese cars a cancer on the U.S. auto industry. [5:43] There already is a federal rule that bans any kind of technology from China related to connected cars. [5:49] Currently, there is also a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs, and that can be even higher if combined with other duties. [5:57] About 38% of American consumers in a February survey taken by Cox Automotive said they would consider a Chinese car. [6:04] Close to 70% of younger buyers would. [6:07] And Donald Trump recently said at an address to the Detroit Economic Club that he'd be open to Chinese companies setting up shop in the U.S. [6:14] Now, if they want to come in and build a plant and hire you and hire your friends and your neighbors, that's great. [6:19] I love that. [6:19] Let China come in. [6:21] Let Japan come in. [6:22] They are. [6:22] And they'll be building plants, but they're using our labor.