Each April, the world’s top auto executives and engineers fly to China’s main auto show to take stock of BYD, the electric car powerhouse that passed Tesla in global sales last year.
But at the Auto China event now happening in Beijing, another name is commanding attention: Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. In an unexpected development, Geely beat BYD in sales in the first two months of the year and is rapidly broadening its lineup. Geely is now pushing overseas, more than doubling exports to Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere in the past year and taking on global rivals on their home turf.
Geely is rising at a pivotal moment. The war in Iran has sent gasoline prices soaring, reviving consumer demand for electric vehicles — a segment dominated by Chinese automakers. After years of laying the groundwork to expand exports and escape a cutthroat domestic market, Chinese brands appear poised to capitalize and shift the balance of power in the global automobile industry.
Geely has built a business model designed to handle volatility. It is one of the few automakers that can compete across all four major powertrains: gasoline, gasoline-electric hybrids, plug-in hybrids and fully electric. That breadth allows it to shift quickly as conditions change.
When the Chinese government let government tax subsidies for electric cars expire this year and demand slumped, Geely responded by leaning on its gasoline models. Then, when the war in Iran sent gasoline prices surging last month, Geely resumed pushing plug-in hybrids and electric cars.
