Has the founder of Geely, an upstart carmaker, got what it takes to revive Volvo?
LI SHUFU, the chairman of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, China’s biggest privately owned car firm, and from this week of Sweden’s Volvo Cars, likes to describe himself as the Henry Ford of China. There are some similarities. Both men began life down on the farm and both quickly discovered they were more interested in engineering and building businesses than ploughing fields.
Unlike Ford, however, who grew cranky and anti-Semitic as he aged, the 47-year-old Mr Li seems admirably grounded. Although one of China’s richest men, he dresses inexpensively and lives in a modest Beijing apartment. In conversation, he smiles and chuckles frequently. His only known eccentricity is a weakness for writing verse. He has published more than 20 poems on his personal website and another is woven into the carpet in the reception area of Geely’s Hanghzhou base, 100 miles (160km) southwest of Shanghai. …
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