Geely Auto eyes overseas mergers out of need

Shanghai, March 31 (Gasgoo.com) Geely Auto, one of China's biggest private carmakers, will choose partners for mergers and acquisitions out of its own need, the company's vice president Wang Ziliang said in a recent conference.

Geely Auto has been rumored to merge overseas automakers consistently these days. Wang Ziliang said the company has kept an eye on merging overseas automakers, but no result yet.

All mergers and acquisitions should happen out of the company's own demands and requirements, and it makes no sense to merge some company we don't really need, Wang noted.

On Mar. 27, Geely Auto acquired Australian transmission maker Drivetrain Systems International (DSI), which is an urgent demand of Geely, for manufacturing automatic transmission is a bottleneck for the Chinese automakers, Wang explained.

According to Geely vice president Zhao Fuquan, DSI, as the world's second largest transmission maker which ever supplied Ford, Chrysler and Ssangyong with high-emission products, could be complementary to Geely's low-emission cars and bolster the Chinese carmaker to upgrade its products.

The homegrown automaker will bring 22 vehicle models, nine engines and 3 transmissions to the upcoming 2009 Shanghai Auto Show in April, Zhao Fuquan said last Sunday.