Sindelfingen, Daimler design studio, autumn 2019. CEO Ola Källenius (50) should give the okay for a new model from his small car brand Smart. The SUV in bonsai format will be launched in 2022, electrically, of course. “Cool,” says Källenius. The eyes are on the man next to the Daimler boss, An Conghui (49), CEO of the Geely Auto Group. Now it depends on his voice.
Because at the beginning of last year, Daimler sold 50 percent of Smart to China. Since then, Källenius has not made the decisions about the brand alone.
The models are designed in Sindelfingen. They are developed and built in China. This saves hundreds of millions of euros a year. At the same time, Geely’s main owner Li Shufu (56), who has held almost 10 percent of Daimler’s shares since February 2018, has a say. This time it turns out lightly: Conghui agrees to build the smart SUV.