Normally, someone buying a minor slice of someone else doesn’t attract much interest but when it’s Geely, owner or significant stakeholder of the Volvo Cars (and Polestar), Geely Auto, Lynk & Co, Proton, Lotus, the London EV Company (traditional ‘black cab’ maker) and Yuan Cheng New Energy Commercial Vehicle brands, well, you lot sit up and take notice.

Geely Group, a  company owned by Li Shufu and managed by Zheijang Geely Holding Group, has acquired a 9.7% stake in Daimler AG, through open market purchases of shares. The move appears to be part of a long-term strategy by Li to position Geely for growth in e-mobility and possible access to Daimler technologies. Previous to Li Shufu’s acquisition, the Kuwait Investment Authority was the largest shareholder with a 6.8% stake. The sovereign wealth fund has been a major shareholder in Daimler for decades. Earlier this month just-auto reported Geely had been building up a stake in Daimler on the open market after the German company turned down a request towards the end of last year to issue new shares in a discounted placement.

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Geely is said to be trying to push through a deal with Daimler to access its in house electric vehicle battery technology. Mercedes-Benz produces its own battery systems for electric and plug in hybrid vehicles at a facility in Germany.

It’s interesting to note that, with a Chinese entrepreneur buying in, Daimler itself, via its Beijing Benz joint venture, is doing well in China and has announced plans for a second factory, sneakily acquiring a facility currently used by local partner BAIC.

With “mobility” seemingly appearing in almost every press release from the automakers these days, there is consolidation going on in services. This week Daimler Mobility Services said it would buy the 25% stake in car2go Europe from joint venture partner Europcar Group, subject to regulatory approval, giving the automaker 100% of car2go Europe which, in 2012, was created as a joint venture owned 75% by Daimler and 25% by Europcar. Today, car2go Group operates in Europe, North America and China, and has 3m users worldwide. Car2go has not been an unqualified success, having withdrawn from San Diego, London and Birmingham, and, sensibly, Daimler reportedly is talking with BMW (which partnered with rental car operator Sixt but will buy its stake) to merge its operation with the Munich rival’s DriveNow operation. This is going to create a formidable rival to the likes of ride hailers like Uber. A space worth watching.

With new SUVs coming thick and fast (Jaguar’s I-Pace EV was announced overnight ahead of its Geneva reveal), we took a look at the E-Pace and asked is the brand now SUV oriented too?

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Of course, JLR stablemate Land Rover also fields that rare oddity – the SUV cabriolet (the Evoque variant; anyone remember Nissan’s Murano?) – and now VW is going to try an Evoque rival, the T-Roc soft top. Appropriately, it will be built in the former Karmann (as in Beetle based Ghia coupe) plant in Osnabruck which has a long history of building convertible VWs back to said Beetle as well as roof systems and contract assembly for other automakers. VW took over the plant in 2011 after Karmann went bust.

Toyota attracted a lot of attention this week with a press conference in Japan announcing a whole lot of new drivetrain products to go with its latest TGNA architecture.

Finally, diesel continued to come under siege this week as a top court in Germany ruled polluting vehicles such as older diesels could be banned from the urban centres of Stuttgart and Dusseldorf. The decision could lead to more diesel bans in German cities (and possibly beyond the country) and could accelerate a market move away from diesel technology in Europe. (London, too is cracking down with new fees to keep older petrol and diesel vehicles out.) The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig said the cities of Stuttgart and Duesseldorf could legally ban more older, more polluting diesel cars from zones impacted by the worst air pollution. The ruling by the court followed appeals against bans by German states imposed by local courts in Stuttgart and Dusseldorf, in cases brought by environmental group DUH.

Have a good weekend.

Graeme Roberts, Deputy Editor, just-auto.com