In the first quarter, Changan and Geely ranked third and fourth, respectively, in China in terms of retail vehicle sales.
(Image credit: Geely)
It's interesting to see two of China's largest automakers announce a cooperation agreement, even though they are rivals.
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group and Chongqing Changan Automobile signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement on May 9, according to press releases issued today by the two companies.
The two sides will launch strategic cooperation in areas including new energy, intelligence, new energy power, overseas market expansion, and mobility to jointly promote the upward development of Chinese brands, according to their press releases.
This this will help create a better consumer and travel experience for users and help transform and upgrade the Chinese auto industry and develop with high quality, the two companies said.
Changan chairman Zhu Huarong, Geely chairman Eric Li, and Fu Bingfeng, executive vice-president of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) attended the signing ceremony.
Changan and Geely are excellent representatives of Chinese auto companies, and the open cooperation between the two is conducive to building the image of Chinese auto brands and spawning industry synergies, said Fu.
Intelligence and electrification are the focus of the strategic cooperation between Geely and Changan.
In the field of new energy, the two sides will cooperate on battery cells, charging technology, battery swap technology, new energy vehicle (NEV) product safety, and new energy industry layout.
In the field of intelligence, they will cooperate around chip, operating system, vehicle system interconnection, high-precision map and autonomous driving.
The two sides will also work together on power platform and power technology, explore cooperation in overseas development and mobility ecology, and cooperate in the fields of industrial internet, block chain and carbon trading.
The two companies will work together to enhance their core competitiveness and help Chinese vehicles enter the middle and high end of the global automotive value chain, said Geely's Li.
Neither Geely nor Changan -- which ranks in the top five in Chinese auto sales -- provided more details on their partnership in their press releases.
In the first quarter, Changan sold 302,898 vehicles at retail, making it the No. 3 brand in China for the period, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
Geely ranked fourth with retail sales of 269,701 units in the first quarter. The top two were BYD and FAW-Volkswagen, with retail sales of 508,706 and 368,762, respectively.
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