Shanghai (ZXZC)- Geely denied the rumor that it planned to acquire Bentley, the luxury auto brand under Volkswagen Group. Yang Xueliang, vice president of the Zhejiang-based auto company, said no to the question whether the automaker has such a plan.

It seems logical for Geely to enter into the ultra-luxury auto market after the Chinese privately-held enterprise embraces premium cars and sports cars through the acquisition of Volvo Cars and Lotus Cars, a British automotive brand.

(photo source: Bentley)

Besides, Bentley appears to be in a similar situation to that of Volvo Cars just before its joining in Geely. The British manufacturer of ultra-luxury cars and SUVs witnessed a loss of around €290 million ($319 million) in 2018. Last year, the brand manufactured 9,115 vehicles, 13.6% decline versus the previous year and the sales volume reached around 10,000 units, below the prior year’s level.  

In addition, VW suggested it would attach greater importance to electric vehicles (EV) and develop autonomous-driving technologies and the German automaker bids to generate 40% of its global sales from EVs by 2030.

With regard to Volvo Cars, it was sold to Ford Motor Company in 1999 and failed to perform well in sales and suffered continuous loss afterwards. In 2010, Geely managed to acquire it.

(photo source: Volvo Cars)

In the second year after the acquisition, Volvo Cars’ global retail sales surged 20.3% year on year to 449,225 units with 67,273units sold in America, jumping 24.7% from the previous-year period. Sales in China soared 54.4% as well. In 2019, the subsidiary of Geely sold 568,663 cars in total in the first ten months across the world, up 8.1% year on year.