Chinese Tycoon With Mercedes, Volvo Stakes Struggles Against BYD

Few outside of China had heard of any of the country’s domestic carmakers until Geely broke through in the 2010s. Domestically, cars from Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. were among the nation’s bestselling. And globally, the empire of Geely and its billionaire founder, Li Shufu, spanned stakes in Sweden’s Volvo, Germany’s Mercedes-Benz and Malaysia’s Proton, as well as a partnership with France’s Renault. Geely is best known for the acquisition of Volvo Cars in 2010 and its remarkable turnaround. This success showed for the first time that a Chinese manufacturer could run an international brand as well as its ...