3 October 2026
A bill moving through Washington would ban any carmaker more than 15% Chinese-owned from selling cars in America. Not just Chinese brands — any carmaker. And one of its sponsors has named two British brands that could be caught: Aston Martin and Lotus. Not because of anything they built. Because of one man. His name is Li Shufu. Most people in Britain have never heard of him. He owns Volvo. He controls Lotus. He owns the company that builds the London black cab. He holds a sixth of Aston Martin. And in 2018 he bought almost a tenth of Mercedes-Benz — around €7.3bn worth — in secret, and nobody knew until the morning he announced it. German law requires disclosure at 3%, 5% and 10%. Li declared at none of them. According to Reuters, banks including Morgan Stanley helped structure the stake in a way that avoided early disclosure. Germany's regulator later ruled he should have declared earlier. The Financial Times asked the question everyone was thinking: was the Chinese state behind it? This video covers who he actually is — a farming family in Zhejiang, photographing tourists, melting down scrap appliances, fridge parts, then building cars in 1998 before the state had licensed him to — and the five completely different ways he took famous car companies: Bought outright from a desperate seller (Volvo, $1.8bn from Ford, less than a third of what Ford paid). Bought out of administration (the London black cab, around £11m in 2013, with the Coventry factory and the designs). Bought the parent company (Lotus, via Proton in 2017). Built in silence (Mercedes). And crept up share by share (Aston Martin, 7.6% to 17%, with a board seat — and the standstill agreement capping it has now expired). Plus Polestar, Zeekr, Lynk & Co, Proton, Renault Korea, Farizon, Smart — and satellites, phones and flying cars beyond that. Covered honestly too: Volvo roughly doubled its sales under him, around £500m went into the black cab, Lotus was dying before he arrived, and nobody forced any of those British and European owners to sell. Does it bother you who owns the car you drive, as long as it's a good car? Or is there a line — and where is it? geely, li shufu, volvo geely, lotus geely, aston martin geely stake, mercedes shareholder, london black cab levc, connected vehicle security act, chinese ownership car brands, polestar us ban, zeekr, lynk and co, proton, smart brand, chinese cars uk, british car industry, car industry ownership, daimler stake 2018, uk car news
