Mar. 1 (NBD) -- Chinese billionaire Li Shufu stands closer to his aim to build his car company Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. ("Geely") one of the three largest automakers around the globe, after Geely becomes the largest single shareholder of German Daimler AG ("Daimler"). 

Li once predicted only a few traditional carmakers could survive in the future, and grasping cutting-edge technologies would be their key to success. 

In last year's Fortune Global 500 List, the Zhejiang-based automaker ranked the 343rd position, being in 20th place among car companies worldwide and in sixth place among Chinese automakers. 

It seems there is a big gap with the billionaire's ambitious goal. 

To squeeze into the top 10 of the global automobile industry by 2020, a goal announced in 2016, Geely is speeding up its pace of overseas acquisition. 

With the purchase of Daimler stake, Geely has invested in up to seven overseas carmakers to date, with the total investment exceeding 14 billion U.S. dollars. 

The acquisition of Volvo Car Corporation ("Volvo Cars") at 1.8 billion U.S. dollars from Ford Motor Company in 2010 marked the beginning of Geely's overseas purchases. 

In 2013, Geely bought Manganese Bronze, the maker of London's black cabs, for 11.04 million pounds (15.4 million U.S. dollars). In June 2017, the company completed the acquisition of a 49.9 stake in Malaysian automaker Proton and a 51 percent stake in Britain's Lotus. It then purchased 100 percent of U.S. flying car start-up Terrafugia and a 8.2 percent stake of Swedish truckmaker AB Volvo. 

It is the remarkable performance of Volvo Cars after being acquired that gave Geely strong confidence in expanding its overseas presence. 

Volvo Cars' fiscal reports showed the company's operating profits reached 11 billion Swedish Krona (1.33 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016 and 14.1 billion Swedish Krona (1.7 billion U.S. dollars) in 2017. 

As of last year, Volvo Cars have contributed a total of around 37.6 billion Swedish Krona (4.6 billion U.S. dollars) to Geely's operating profits, far above the price the Chinese company originally paid. 

In addition to financial returns, Volvo Cars brought tangible benefits to Geely at the technology and brand level, and the latter's proprietary car business experienced explosive growth in recent years. 

Data shows that Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd, Hong Kong-listed arm of Geely, reported net profits of around 1.54 billion yuan (243.56 million U.S. dollars) on a revenue of about 20.97 billion yuan (3.31 billion U.S. dollars) in 2011. In the first half of last year, its revenue rose to 39.42 billion yuan (6.22 billion U.S. dollars) while net profits soared to 4.34 billion yuan (685.69 million U.S. dollars). 

For the whole year of 2017, Geely crossed the annual sales mark of 1 million units, taking the lead among China's domestic auto manufacturers. 

Moreover, Geely worked with Volvo Cars to launch a new high-end brand - Lynk & Co. - last year.

Built on Volvo Cars' Compact Modular Architecture platform, the Lynk & Co 01 SUV hit the market in November 2017, and orders for the model have been placed through the second half of this year. 

It seems that Li Shufu will continue the path of overseas purchases, as a single successful acquisition is not enough to make Geely a world-leading carmaker. 

Recent reports said Jaguar Land Rover or Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will be the next target of Geely, but no official response has been received yet.  

Email: lansuying@nbd.com.cn