Source: Caiwen Yaojian. Once again, Li Shufu has made his move. He has always been known as a "merger king."

Back in 2010, amid the ruins of the financial crisis, he pulled off something that stunned the entire world — Geely Auto (00175) spent US$1.8 billion to buy the entire Volvo business from Ford. At that time, what was Geely? A domestic challenger. What was Volvo? A prestigious European luxury brand. So the phrase "snake swallowing an elephant" spread like wildfire. Even The Economist declared that this was more like "a poor boy marrying a Nordic princess," and that the wedding night would likely end in disaster.

Sixteen years later, Volvo was brought back from the brink under Geely's stewardship, firmly establishing itself in the luxury market. Geely, too, used this leap to transform from a "low-end domestic brand" into a world-class player.

One deal was not enough. Just now, Li Shufu made his move again — and this time, it is Ford. On October 12, the State Administration for Market Regulation published its latest batch of unconditionally approved concentration of business operators cases — and the case of Geely Holding's acquisition of a 34% stake in Ford's Spanish company was prominently listed.

The deal was officially announced back in July this year: Geely invested 221 million euros, roughly 1.65 billion yuan, to purchase a 34% stake in Ford's Spanish subsidiary, which operates the Valencia vehicle assembly plant.

Many people take one look at 34% and shake their heads: Ford still holds 66%, so aren't you still just a follower? But those in the know understand that this calculation is not about the percentage — it is about leverage.

First, look at what is being bought. The Valencia plant began production in 1976 and is one of Europe's largest automobile factories, with an annual capacity of 500,000 units. It has ready-made facilities, a mature supply chain, skilled workers, and a full set of EU vehicle manufacturing qualifications — everything is in place. But as the tide of fuel vehicles recedes, Ford's orders have collapsed, and today its capacity utilization rate is below 25%, with large swathes of workshops so idle you could run horses through them.

For Ford, this plant is a hot potato: shut it down, and it faces massive severance payouts — Spanish labor law is no joke; keep it running, and it bleeds money day after day.

One man's poison is another man's honey. For Geely, this plant is a windfall from the sky. Think about it — when others build factories overseas, they spend tens of billions and endure three to four years of construction. Geely? It only needs to spend a little over a billion yuan and move right in. Some institutions estimate that Geely's cost for securing an annual output quota of 150,000 vehicles this way is only one-tenth to one-twentieth that of building a new factory.

Even more tangible are the tariffs. When Geely exports electric vehicles from China to the EU, the base tariff is 10%, plus an anti-subsidy duty of 18.8%, totaling 28.8%. That means for every car sold, nearly 30% of the profit is stripped away first. But if the car is made in Spain, it qualifies as "made in the EU," and that money is saved outright.

One transaction, win-win for both sides: Ford keeps the plant and the jobs, while Geely secures its first foothold in Europe at minimal cost. Instead of building new, it revitalizes idle capacity in someone else's hands. This approach is light, clever, and precise — essentially borrowing a chicken to lay eggs, packing "Chinese technology plus Chinese efficiency" into "someone else's shell."

Guan Zhong once said: "The wise turn misfortune into fortune and failure into success." Masters never clash head-on; instead, they see their own winning move within another's predicament. What Chinese companies should learn is precisely this wisdom of "using four ounces to move a thousand catties." Going global is not about who spends the most or builds the biggest footprint — it is about using the smallest cost to leverage the largest board.

In the end, Li Shufu is still that merger king — only this time, he did not even need to "buy out."