Geely poaches top executives to run Volvo business

Shanghai, July 9 (Gasgoo.com) China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, who is buying Volvo Cars from Ford Motor, announced yesterday that it has appointed Ning Shuyong, former vice president of Motorola China and Sony Ericsson China, as assistant to Geely chairman Li Shufu.


Ning Shuyong, also former president of Dow Chemical Company, Greater China and director for public affairs at Dow Asia/Pacific, will assist Li Shufu in carrying out international exchanges and cooperation, and will serve as spokesperson of the Geely-Volvo project together with Geely's current spoksperson Yuan Xiaolin, Geely said.

Earlier, Geely has hired Shen Hui, former president of Fiat (China) Powertrain Technologies (FPT), to run Volvo's global operations. Besides, Kenneth Hsu, former vice president of Ford Motor (China) Ltd. has also jointed Geely and is now in charge of Geely's global communication and brand promotion, according to news released by Geely Group on June 2, 2009 in Hangzhou.

In addition, Volkswagen's North American CEO Stefan Jacoby has recently been hired to lead Geely's Volvo brand, according to German media.

Geely will spend $2.7 billion on the deal, which includes the original price tag of $1.8 billion plus $900 million in working capital to improve the brand. Geely aims to sell 150,000 Volvo cars in China annually by 2015.