Li Shufu, the billionaire behind one of the world¡¯s largest automobile empires, has been doing some soul-searching.
In China, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group¡¯s Geely Automobile, which reports earnings on Thursday, is trying to catch up to electric-vehicle leader BYD. In Europe, Volvo Car AB is caught in the midst of a trade conflict that¡¯s tempered its global ambitions. And in the U.S., a lucrative market effectively closed to Chinese brands, New York-listed Polestar Automotive Holding and Lotus Technology have been reduced to penny stocks.
After more than a decade of expansion that started with the acquisition of Sweden¡¯s Volvo in 2010, Li is now making cost-cutting the order of the day to stop the hemorrhaging at several of his carmakers. The shift was laid out in a document called the Taizhou Declaration, which called for consolidation, synergies and savings to eliminate redundancies across the group. Li first released it in Chinese, setting out broad terms of a new strategy meant to bolster his companies as EV demand sputters and tariff conflicts threaten sales.
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