Shanghai (ZXZC)- Chinese automaker Geely Auto and BAIC Group jointly issued a statement on May 15 denying the report about a merger talk between them, saying such report is groundless and untrue. Besides, two companies also emphasized the priority to beef up independent innovation, deepen opening-up and cooperation and stick to high-quality development.

It is noteworthy that the official stamps of two companies showed up on the joint statement simultaneously, which was quite rare for conventional automakers' statements.

In February, Geely has accumulated around $9 billion to buy a 9.69% stake in Daimler AG using banks, shell companies and derivatives, which made it the largest investor of Mercedes-Benz's parent company. At the end of last year, the Chinese automaker had acquired 8.2% stake in Volvo Group after it purchased Volvo Cars in 2010.

As Daimler's largest partner in China, BAIC Group has been in strategic cooperation with the German automaker for ten years.  As early as 2005, BAIC Motor and the German automaker jointly built Beijing Benz in which two parties introduced EV models from Daimler. In addition, Daimler officially acquired 3.93% stake in BAIC BJEV on March 8, which deepened the collaboration with BAIC Group in EV area.