Geely rides reform for tech, tie-ups

Carmaker evolves rapidly into global player and leader in new energy vehicles segment

In the 1990s, Li Shufu, already a founder of a smallsize motorcycle company in China, said he wanted to make cars next. People thought he was crazy.

Even then, China was a developing economy. For most people, car was an unaffordable luxury. The local automobile market was not big. Indigenous manufacturing technologies were not world-class. So, a foray into cars was not only fraught with risk but bordered on reckless fantasy.