A financial report that set a new high was described by one of its own executives as a "quarterly report under high pressure." Isn't that strange?

On October 29, Geely Automobile released its third-quarter report for 2026. This was the first complete quarterly performance statement delivered by Geely after Li Shufu stepped down as chairman of the board two months earlier.

In the first three quarters of 2026, Geely Automobile achieved operating revenue of 272.564 billion yuan, up 13% year on year; core net profit attributable to parent shareholders reached 14.896 billion yuan, up 41% year on year. In the third quarter of 2026, Geely Automobile's operating revenue reached 98.964 billion yuan, up 10% year on year; core net profit attributable to parent shareholders was 5.212 billion yuan, up 32% year on year, with both single-quarter revenue and core profit setting records for the same period.

Interestingly, Geely Automobile Vice Chairman Gui Shengyue called this record-high scorecard a "quarterly report under high pressure." A financial report hitting a new high and a remark about "high pressure"—what secret lies behind them?

Four "Explosive" Data Points

In the winter of the auto market, with price wars raging, many automakers are trapped in the dilemma of "selling more but earning less." Under overall industry pressure, Geely Automobile delivered a third-quarter report with a strong sense of contrast: in the first three quarters it achieved simultaneous growth in volume, price and profit, carving out a distinctive growth path amid fierce involutionary competition.

Profit growing far faster than revenue and sales volume is the most direct manifestation of Geely's rapid rise.

According to the financial report data, in the first three quarters of this year Geely's core net profit attributable to parent shareholders reached 14.9 billion yuan, up 41% year on year, while operating revenue growth was 13% and sales volume growth was only 3%. The gap between fast and slow speeds shows that Geely is no longer following the old path of exchanging price for sales volume and relying on scale to gain market share.

In addition, core net profit attributable to parent shareholders per vehicle rose 37% year on year to 6,664 yuan, and gross margin increased to 18%, up 1.5 percentage points from the same period last year. The main reasons for the large profit increase are improved product structure and more efficient internal management, with the company's profitability continuing to strengthen.

Explosive growth in overseas exports has formed Geely's second growth point.

In the first three quarters Geely exported 798,000 vehicles, soaring 169% year on year, of which 484,000 were new energy vehicle exports, surging 531% year on year. From June to September, Geely's monthly exports exceeded 100,000 vehicles for four consecutive months, sprinting at full speed toward the full-year export target of 1 million vehicles. Overseas markets are no longer merely a supplement to the domestic market but a stable pillar, expected to reduce single-market risk and break through growth ceilings.

Continuous progress in premiumization has changed Geely's overall revenue structure and enhanced brand value.

Geely Automobile's premiumization strategy is mainly implemented through the Zeekr brand, which sold 288,000 vehicles in the first three quarters, more than doubling year on year, with its revenue share rising from 17.7% in the same period last year to 31.3%. Premiumization has truly translated into revenue and profit.

The echelon-based coordinated development of the four major brands avoids the risk of relying on "walking on one leg."

Galaxy sales reached 877,000 vehicles in the first three quarters, firmly holding the mainstream new energy vehicle base and catering to mass-market family new energy vehicle demand; China Star sold 874,000 vehicles, consolidating the fuel vehicle base and covering the existing fuel consumption group; Lynk & Co sold 196,000 vehicles, rooted in the mid-to-high-end market and balancing performance and personality; Zeekr sold 288,000 vehicles, charging into the luxury segment.

This well-structured brand matrix gives Geely rare risk resistance in the industry winter.

Four Hard-Core Foundations

When many automakers are trapped in the dilemma of exchanging low prices for sales volume and increasing revenue without improving profit, why can Geely Automobile achieve simultaneous growth in sales volume, price and profit?

The first foundation is that the four major brands each perform their own duties rather than "fighting among themselves."

Parallel multi-brand operations are most prone to problems such as overlapping positioning, competition among similar products and internal friction that consumes profits. At present, Geely's four brands have completed differentiated positioning, and the four pieces connect with one another to form a healthy growth posture.

China Star sold 874,000 vehicles in the first three quarters, maintaining the fuel vehicle base; Galaxy is mainly about scaling up, with sales of 877,000 vehicles in the first three quarters; Lynk & Co is positioned in the mid-to-high-end market, with sales reaching 196,000 vehicles in the first three quarters, of which new energy vehicles accounted for more than 70%; while Zeekr is responsible for premiumization, completing 288,000 deliveries in the first three quarters.

The second foundation is translating the slogan of premiumization into financial statements, thereby opening long-term profit space.

Many automakers' premiumization remains at the level of brand promotion, without selling high-end cars, or selling them with very low profit, unable to improve the group's overall profitability. The emergence of Zeekr solved this problem and became the best example of Geely's premiumization.

In the first three quarters, multiple models including Zeekr 9X, 8X and 009 each won sales championships in their respective segments, among which Zeekr 9X also firmly held a leading position in the high-end market above 500,000 yuan, competing with luxury brands.

The third foundation is that "One Geely" integration has begun to deliver efficiency, with spending becoming more precise.

After the release of the Taizhou Declaration in 2024, Geely has been committed to integrated consolidation across five dimensions: brand, R&D, supply chain, manufacturing and channels, hoping in this way to reduce organizational waste and activate various internal resources.

By 2026, the pace of integration accelerated further. In August, management was adjusted: An Conghui was appointed chairman of the board of Geely Automobile, and a unified sales company was established to integrate marketing resources across brands and build a unified decision-making platform, further releasing organizational synergy efficiency. In the first three quarters, the selling expense ratio fell to 5.6%, the administrative expense ratio fell to 1.6%, and R&D investment as a share of revenue fell to 5.5%, while total R&D investment remained flat year on year.

The fourth foundation is the iterative upgrade of the overseas expansion model, evolving from the previous "selling cars only" to today's system-based overseas expansion.

The data directly show the explosive power of overseas expansion: in the first three quarters Geely exported 798,000 vehicles, up 169% year on year, of which new energy vehicle exports were 484,000, with a growth rate of 531%, and monthly exports exceeded 100,000 vehicles for four consecutive months.

Image source: Geely Automobile 2026 first three quarters sales announcement

Not only are the sales figures impressive, but in five major markets—Europe, Southeast Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Central Asia—Geely has already established localized production and sales systems and set up distribution outlets: it invested in Ford's Spain plant, helped Lynk & Co open up European dealership channels through Volvo, and the first localized model of the Renault-Geely Brazil joint venture rolled off the line.

Once the four pillars of brand, product, organization and globalization are firmly in place, Geely will have the confidence to weather cycles and sustain profitability.

Looking Back at Li Shufu's "Three-Step Chess," This Financial Report Had Long Been Foreshadowed

Geely Automobile's impressive third-quarter report is not a matter of luck but the strategic result of Li Shufu's step-by-step layout over the past two years, advancing steadily at every stage.

The first step was the Taizhou Declaration, which launched the "One Geely" strategic integration.

Previously, Geely's various brands and technology platforms each went their own way, with scattered tracks and resource friction, unable to concentrate strength. The core idea of the Taizhou Declaration is "strategic focus, strategic integration, strategic synergy," that is, concentrating resources previously scattered across brands and platforms into one fist.

A series of integration moves were then implemented quickly: Geometry was merged into Galaxy, Lynk & Co was merged into Zeekr, and redundant entities were shut down, merged, transferred or converted. In the short term these measures brought organizational turbulence and sales volume changes, but this bold integration laid the foundation for achieving simultaneous growth in sales volume, price and profit in 2026.

The second step was resigning as chairman of the board to realize the transition of "de-familialization."

On August 18, Li Shufu resigned as chairman of the board and executive director of Geely Automobile Holdings Limited, and An Conghui succeeded him. At the same time, Li Donghui resigned as vice chairman of the board of Geely Automobile and remained an executive director; Gui Shengyue resigned as chief executive officer, was appointed vice chairman of the board and continued to serve as an executive director; Gan Jiayue was appointed chief executive officer of Geely Automobile.

An Conghui joined Geely in 1996 and is very familiar with Geely's technology route and market playbook; the post-80s fresh blood Gan Jiayue also brought new vitality to the management after taking office. Gui Shengyue's analysis of this point is very much to the point: at this time, Geely has shifted from being led by its founder to being led by institutions and a mature team.

The third step was handing over when performance was at its best, not changing leaders when performance was at its worst.

When the announcement of Li Shufu's resignation as chairman of the board was released, it coincided with Geely delivering a good result for the first half of the year: operating revenue of 173.6 billion yuan and core profit up 46% year on year. At a time when the industry treats leadership changes as an emergency measure, the message conveyed by this choice is very clear: the handover is not a passive measure taken because of operating pressure, but an active and unhurried institutional succession.

Image source: Geely Automobile 2026 interim financial report

As Li Shufu said at the interim results meeting, the auto industry is an endless marathon, and corporate inheritance and values determine whether a company can achieve sustainable development.

The chess game is not over; the handover is only the beginning. For Geely, the real test of the game Li Shufu set in motion is whether the new team can catch the dividends, grasp the rhythm and turn short-term performance highs into a long-term stable growth curve.

Four Key Variables Will Determine Whether Geely Automobile Can Truly "Weather the Cycle"

Looking ahead, there are four important variables that will determine whether Geely can move from phased growth to sustained leadership and emerge from this long industry winter.

First, in overseas markets, can explosive growth be transformed into systematic deep cultivation?

In the first three quarters, overseas business accounted for 35.7% of total sales. The other side of rapid development is that risks are also accumulating: intensified exchange rate fluctuations, higher trade barriers in various countries, and rising costs of overseas plant construction and localized operations. Whether the capability for system-based overseas expansion can be established on top of product exports has become an important factor in maintaining stable growth in overseas profits.

Second, can the integration dividends of "One Geely" be released in a concentrated way in 2027?

At the 2026 interim results meeting, An Conghui proposed continuing to advance the Taizhou Declaration and making "One Geely" bigger, stronger and more substantive. After a period of reorganization, the positioning and segmentation of the four major brands—Galaxy, China Star, Lynk & Co and Zeekr—have roughly taken shape, building a complete system from mainstream family cars to high-end new energy vehicles.

However, integration does not end with drawing a brand segmentation map; there is still great room for improvement in areas such as channel synergy, supply chain sharing and R&D resource sharing.

Third, can new energy vehicles reach a 70% penetration rate in 2027?

Geely's new energy vehicle sales penetration rate reached 59.3% in the first three quarters and climbed to 64.9% in the third quarter, with the pace of transformation gradually accelerating. However, competitors such as BYD and Tesla have always held the initiative in the market, and price wars, new product battles and technological innovation battles are intertwined, making industry competition even more intense.

Fourth, can the professional manager team withstand the test of the industry winter? Under extremely fierce competition, balancing growth targets, defending the price system, controlling costs and maintaining technological iteration are all difficult tasks. Whether they can withstand pressure and defend the profit bottom line will become proof of whether this professional manager system is effective.

The third-quarter report proves that the start of the post-Li Shufu era is exciting enough, but the market has also seen the reality clearly: impressive data and intense competitive pressure can coexist. Next, all eyes will be on An Conghui and Gan Jiayue's team to see whether they can turn this "quarterly report under high pressure" into "normalized strong performance."