As many of you may know, I lived in China for many years. I began reporting on China’s auto industry in-depth around 2003. I’ve thus seen countless baby steps by Chinese automakers towards entering the U.S. market.
This year, Guangzhou Automotive Co. Ltd. – or GAC, as it is often known – is taking a rather large step into the U.S. market by having a booth at the upcoming NADA show in Las Vegas. GAC aims to sell its own brand of vehicles – name as yet unknown since it apparently won’t use Trumpchi, the current name, here in the U.S.
Another Chinese automaker has taken a different route into the U.S. market, however, and has already been selling cars here for a quite a few years. China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group has been selling vehicles here since 2010 – under the Volvo badge. Indeed, some of those Volvo vehicles being sold here are now made in China!
Geely just took another step toward selling vehicles here in the U.S. that it at least partially owns under another badge, including Mercedes-Benz. The Chinese automaker has acquired a 9.7 percent stake in Daimler AG.
Li Shufu, Geely’s founder, has certainly taken a more risk-free route into the U.S. market. It will be interesting to see if he attempts to use it as a bridge to sell Geely-brand vehicles here. My guess would be he won’t. But we may see Lynk&Co. or Polestar-badged vehicles here in the U.S. Those are two new brands launched by Geely – or Volvo in the case of Polestar.
On to this week’s issue of Automotive Buy Sell Report! Jeff Spreen is like many third-generation dealer principals in that he didn’t really think selling cars was his future – until he got to know the business. He has jumped enthusiastically into expanding Spreen Auto Group. Read more about his management approach here.
Most buy sells involve some employee turnover – sometimes as part of a provision in the agreement under which the buyer lays off all the existing employees and rehires some or all of them after the change of ownership.
There are Federal and state acts governing that process and violating those acts can be costly. This week The Scali Law firm returns to our pages under its new name, Scali Rasmussen, with some advice regarding employee layoffs in a buy sell.
And, Transaction News!
Enjoy!
