Apple Inc.’s Taiwanese manufacturing partner Foxconn Technology Group is setting up a car venture with Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, strengthening its automotive capabilities at a time when technology companies including Apple are looking to expand into vehicles. Geely is parent company of brands including Volvo Cars, Lynk and others.

The companies officially announced today that Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely Holding) and Foxconn Technology Group (Foxconn) signed a strategic cooperative agreement and will establish a joint venture company to provide OEM and customized consulting services relating to whole vehicles, parts, intelligent drive systems, automotive ecosystem platforms to global automotive enterprises and ridesharing companies.

The new joint venture will revolutionize the automotive industry model by introducing the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) division of labor to help automakers accelerate their transition to new innovative and efficient manufacturing processes and business models based on CASE (Connected, Autonomous, Shared, and Electrified) technologies.

Terry Gou, Founder of Foxconn, and Li Shufu, Chairman of Geely Holding Group, attended and witnessed the digitally held signing ceremony. Young-way Liu, Chairman of Foxconn and An Conghui, President of Geely Holding Group, President and CEO of Geely Auto Group, signed the agreement on behalf of the two companies.

Each party to hold equal 50% stake in new joint venture. The board of directors will consist of five members with Foxconn appointing three including the Chairman and Geely Holding appointing two.

Statement by Young-way Liu, Chairman of Foxconn Technology Group: "This alliance between Geely Holding and Foxconn represents a milestone in cooperation between the automotive industry and ICT industry.

With Foxconn’s globally leading R&D technologies, intelligent manufacturing, and hardware-software integration capabilities, the two parties form a highly complementary partnership which allows us to better serve and meet the diverse needs of different customers, and offer the most advanced, fastest, cost-effective full value-chain vehicle production service platform.

The partnership with Geely Holding does not just align with our company’s vision of “3+3=∞” which symbolizes the infinite possibilities created by Foxconn’s industrial advancement and emerging technologies, it will also result in tremendous change in the development of the automotive industry. I look forward to the great potential that this partnership will bring about.”

Statement by Daniel Donghui Li, CEO of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group: "This cooperation is of great significance to both parties. The current global automotive industry is undergoing profound changes. We must actively embrace change, build alliances, and synergize resources to create greater value for our users. Foxconn’s professional capabilities, rich experience, and global layout in the ICT industry offer important insight for the transformation and evolution of the automotive industry. Geely Holding Group will give full play to its advantages in the automotive fields of design, engineering, R&D, intelligent manufacturing, supply chain management, and quality control while joining forces with Foxconn to develop together and explore new pathways for transforming, improving, and achieving high-quality development of the manufacturing industry."  

Earlier this week Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely Holding), China’s leading privately-owned automotive group, announced that it intends to establish a new strategic partnership focusing on the development of connected and intelligent electric vehicles with Baidu, the country’s pre-eminent search engine, information-centered internet platform and AI company.

The strategic partnership will focus primarily on the joint research and development and production of intelligent and connected electric vehicles.

The formation of the partnership comes as Geely Holding – the parent company of brands including Volvo Cars, Lynk & Co and LEVC, and lead shareholder in Geely Auto, Proton and Lotus – continues its transformation from being a traditional manufacturer into a leading transport-technology company focused on electrified mobility. Geely Holding and its brands have continued to invest in cutting edge technologies such as Internet of Vehicles, intelligent driving, mobility services, vehicle processors and low orbit satellites whilst collaborating with global partners on next-generation mobility ecosystems.

Earlier this month we noted that Hon Hai's shares gained more than 13% in the first two trading sessions of the year, propelled further by news it had sealed a manufacturing deal with embattled Chinese electric-vehicle startup Byton Ltd.

With Apple having a long standing relationship with Foxconn for manufacturing iPhones and other devices, it stands to reason that when and if Apple is ready to move their Project Titan forward, they may have a partner that is ready and able to execute manufacturing in a timely manner.