Founder of fast-growing brand in Australia steps down as the auto giant reshuffles leadership

Geely founder Li Shufu – better known internationally as Eric Li – is stepping down as chairman of the Chinese company’s flagship automotive business as part of a significant leadership change at the rapidly expanding carmaker.

Li, 63, will relinquish the chairmanship of Hong Kong-listed Geely Automobile, with the change taking effect this week. He is not, however, leaving the Geely empire he has spent four decades building.

Li will remain chairman of parent company Zhejiang Geely Holding Group and retains control of Geely Automobile as its controlling shareholder.

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He will be replaced as Geely Automobile chairman by long-serving executive An Conghui, also known as Andy An. An has been with Geely since 1996 and has held numerous senior engineering and management positions across the group. He was appointed an executive director of Geely Automobile in June this year.

The change comes as Geely continues to simplify a sprawling corporate structure that has expanded dramatically through acquisitions, investments and the creation of new brands.

Geely Holding acquired Volvo Cars from Ford in 2010 and has interests in Lotus and Malaysia’s Proton. Li also owns a 9.69 per cent stake in Mercedes-Benz through an investment company.

More recently, Geely has been consolidating its electric-car operations under a “One Geely” strategy. Luxury EV brand Zeekr was taken private and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Geely Automobile in December 2025, while the group has also moved to integrate operations including Lynk & Co.

The leadership change comes during a period of rapid international expansion.

Geely is now China’s second-largest electric-vehicle manufacturer behind BYD, while overseas deliveries more than doubled to 474,228 vehicles during the first half of 2026. Monthly exports passed 100,000 vehicles for the first time in June. Overall first-half sales increased one per cent to 1.42 million vehicles despite weaker domestic demand.

New-energy vehicles – encompassing battery-electric and plug-in hybrid models – accounted for more than half of Geely’s deliveries over the period.

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The company is also pushing further into Europe, including a recently announced manufacturing partnership with Ford that will see two Geely electric SUVs produced at Ford’s Spanish factory and the companies collaborate on another model.

Geely’s international expansion has also accelerated in Australia, where the company recently launched the EX2 electric hatchback (above) as its new entry-level model. Priced from $26,490 before on-road costs for the Complete and $30,990 for the Inspire, the EX2 significantly broadens Geely’s local reach at the affordable end of the EV market.

The small hatch joins the EX5 electric SUV and Starray EM-i plug-in hybrid as Geely builds its Australian range, with further models expected as part of the brand’s rapid global expansion.