(Yicai Global) Jan. 13 -- Chinese automaker Geely Holding Group has teamed up with e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding on digital solutions for the smart automobile industry.

The cooperation will span car production and sales to digital plants, autonomous driving, intelligent cockpit, industrial internet, mobility services, digital marketing, and sustainable development, Hangzhou-based Geely said via its WeChat account today.

Alibaba’s cloud computing business will partner with Geely Research Institute to build an intelligent computing center and improve smart car services and driver-vehicle interaction technologies. Alibaba Cloud will also work with Geely’s digital technology arm GYMD Digital Technology to build a digital automotive factory.

Tmall, an e-commerce marketplace of Hangzhou-based Alibaba, will begin selling cars. Moreover, Alibaba’s digital map and navigation service provider Amap, Alibaba Cloud, and internet-connected vehicle operating system provider Banma Network Technology will offer Geely smart cockpit, smart mobility, and vehicle ecology services.

Geely sold over 2.3 million vehicles last year, up 4.3 percent from 2021, per data the carmaker released today. Sales of new energy vehicles doubled to 640,000, accounting for 28 percent of the total.

Its unit Geely Automobile Holdings sold 1.4 million vehicles in 2022, an increase of about 8 percent from a year ago, it added. NEV sales surged three-fold to 328,700 in the period, making up around 23 percent of the total.

Geely’s luxury brand Volvo Cars sold 615,100 units globally last year, a 12 percent decline on 2021. In the Chinese mainland, sales fell 5.4 percent to 162,000. But Volvo Cars did a good job in terms of electric vehicle transition as its battery EVs took up 10.9 percent of the global total, compared with 3.7 percent the year prior.

Shares of Geely Auto [HKG: 0175] fell 1 percent today to end at HKD12.12 (USD1.55). 

Editor: Futura Costaglione