Shanghai (ZXZC)- Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely Holding), the parent of China's largest private-owned automaker Geely Auto, recently added many new businesses into its business scope, including the manufacturing of batteries, electric motors and integrated circuits (ICs), according to the corporate information inquiry platform Tianyancha.

Photo credit: Geely Holding

Geely Holding was founded in March 2003 with a registered capital of 93 million yuan ($14.456 million). Its initial line of businesses included the investment activities with its own funds, and the sales of new vehicles and used cars. It is jointly held by Li Shufu (91.08%), founder and chairman of Geely Holding, and his son Li Xingxing (8.92%).

The expansion of the business scope was in line with the importance Geely has ever attached to battery business.

In late July, Geely Auto Group signed an agreement with Sunwoda Electric Vehicle Battery Co., Ltd. and Jirun Automobile (an indirect 99% owned subsidiary of Geely Automobile Holdings Limited) for the foundation of a joint venture dedicated to the sales and manufacturing of power battery packs for hybrid electric vehicles and vehicles fitted with the 48-volt systems. The joint venture was formally registered in late September.

In mid-March, Geely announced it would build an electric vehicle battery factory with a planned annual manufacturing capacity of 42 GWh in China's eastern city of Ganzhou. Total investment in the project by Geely Technology Group will be 30 billion yuan ($4.663 billion).

Adding the chip manufacturing into business scope indicates Geely's attempt to deal with chip shortage with its own effort. According to Geely Auto's latest monthly sales results, the automaker faced roughly 18% year-on-year drop in Sept. new vehicle sales, partly due to the global dearth of chips.