Geely Owned Meizu To Partner With Sweden EV Maker Polestar To Develop OS For its Cars in China

Polestar, a Swedish electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer, announced a joint venture with Xingji Meizu on Monday to develop an operating system for Polestar cars marketed in China that will include the newest smart technology.

The endeavour signals the Geely group's latest drive to tailor cars exclusively for Chinese consumers. Geely chairman Li Shufu owns Meizu and is also one of Polestar's top investors and oversees its largest shareholder, Volvo Cars.

Polestar, which presently manufactures all of its vehicles in China, stated that the new operating system will be based on Xingji Meizu's Flyme Auto system, which it introduced earlier this year, and would connect to in-car apps and customers' mobile phones.

The Swedish group stated that it would own 49% of the JV and Xingji Meizu would control 51%, contributing $98 million and $102 million in investment, respectively.

Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath stated that the new software will be promptly installed into the company's vehicles, but the Google Auto system found in cars sold outside of China would remain unmodified.

Xingji Meizu has expanded over the last decade in its bid to become China's Android rival, but it only has a minor market share.

Traditional automakers have been put under pressure by Chinese EV manufacturers that offer reduced costs and clever consumer-facing technologies.

"We definitely struggle with being competitive in that environment," Ingenlath admitted, adding that collaborating with a company closely tied to its own owner would be a beneficial step.

According to Ingenlath, this allowed Polestar, a publicly traded company in the United States, to employ almost entirely in-house software and cater directly to the tastes of Chinese clients.

"This puts us in a completely different position, on par with, if not ahead of, our Chinese EV competitors," he explained.