Daimler is staying mum on a report that Chinese carmaker Geely has bought a stake in the German peer with a view to partnering on battery tech for electric vehicles.
According to Reuters, sources believe Geely, which owns Volvo, “is keen to access Daimler’s battery technology and wants to establish an electric car joint venture in Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei province”.
The size of Geely’s reported stake “is likely to be below 3%”— meaning the company would not need to make a regulatory disclosure in Germany, Reuters said.
A Daimler spokesperson told BBB the car giant would not comment on “speculations or market rumours”. But in a telling remark, the spokesperson said Daimler would only announce shares bought or sold by an investor if the deal “surpassed relevant levels”.
However, Daimler “would welcome any investor with a long-term interest in our company”, the spokesperson added.
Geely could not be contacted for comment.
Daimler said last year it would build a new battery manufacturing plant in the US state of Alabama for its Mercedes-Benz subsidiary— which confirmed it planned to start making electric vehicles in the US.
Also last year, Swiss watchmaker Swatch said its Belenos Clean Power subsidiary had begun testing its prototype vanadium pentoxide cathode battery technology for electric vehicles under an agreement with Geely.
