After nearly 30 years of chasing the "dream of building a car", Li Shufu finally "let go". In mid-August, Geely Automobile announced that Li Shufu had resigned as the chairman and executive director of the company, and An Conghui took over. At the same time, Li Donghui resigned as the vice chairman of the board of directors of Geely Automobile and continued to serve as the executive director of the company; Gui Shengyue, who served as the vice chairman of the board of directors, also continued to serve as the executive director; and Jian Jiayuan was promoted to the chief executive officer of the company. This transfer means that Geely Automobile has officially entered the era of professional managers. Li Shufu (left) and An Conghui (right) Li Shufu said at the 2026 Interim Results Conference of Geely Automobile that the completion of this important personnel change is to "better play the ability of professional talents and better build a professional team". What does Li Shufu's resignation mean for Geely Motors? Can he really retire and enjoy the bliss? Who will be the next handover in the car circle? More exciting videos, all in the car home video platform layout more than 20 years of resignation today, is the result of Li Shufu's continuous layout over the past 30 years. In 1996, Hubei University of Economic Management, a guy who kept running around the playground attracted the attention of Li Shufu who was hanging around here. He was An Conghui. After joining Geely, An Conghui grew rapidly and was one of the core members of the initial team of Geely's automobile manufacturing project. If you want the company to develop well in the long run, it is definitely not enough to rely on such sporadic and high-quality talents as An Conghui. In 1997, Geely founded the Zhejiang Automobile Vocational and Technical College and began to cultivate talents on a large scale. Later, they established Geely College, Sanya College, Xiangtan Institute of Technology, Nanning Institute of Digital Science and Technology and other institutions. In order to support the development of these schools, Geely has established the Geely Talent Development Group. Up to now, Geely has accumulated nearly 300,000 graduates, including Lin Jie, senior vice president of Geely Automobile, Wang Bo, vice president of Geely Automobile, and Fan Junyi, executive vice president of Geely Automobile Sales Corporation. Li Shufu was cultivating while maintaining rules. He withdrew family members from management as early as 2002, placed the company under capital market supervision in 2003, and voluntarily resigned as Group Manager in 2005. Strong successors, batch talents, and stable talent training mechanisms may be the reason for Li Shufu's peace of mind. In Li Shufu's view, the automobile industry is an endless marathon, and corporate heritage and value orientation determine the sustainable development ability of enterprises. Gui Shengyue said at the performance conference that this personnel change reflects Li Shufu's values for the inheritance of the company and is a declaration of "de-familyization" of Geely. He believes that Geely Motors has completed the "entrepreneurial period" and "development period" driven by the founders, and is moving towards a mature period driven by the system and team. Geely Automotive's future governance will be more transparent, decision-making more professional, and management more scientific. Is Li Shufuzhen going to retire and enjoy Qingfu? Not necessarily. The power is still in the hands of the chairman of Geely Automobile, which is undoubtedly an important chapter of Li Shufu's "decentralization drama", but it is far from the final chapter. At present, Li Shufu still serves as the chairman of Geely Holding Group. Geely Holding holds a 36.62% stake in Geely Automobile, while Li Shufu himself has a 2.04% stake. Therefore, he still has an absolute voice in the company. Geely Holding's business territory is also very large. I'm afraid Li Shufu still has a lot of work to do. So far, Geely Holding Group's subsidiaries have covered vehicle, travel, technology, finance and other sectors. Geely Automotive's business includes only the four major passenger car brands of Geely Automobile, Geely Galaxy, Link, Jikrypton, Radar pickup trucks, and some upstream and downstream businesses. In the field of vehicle manufacturing where Geely Automobile is located, Geely Holding has many layouts, such as 100% holding Volvo Automobiles and Remote New Energy Commercial Vehicle Group, holding most of the shares of Polarstern Automobiles, British sports car brand Lotus, and nearly half of Proton, Malaysia's "national car brand". In addition, Geely Holding is the second largest shareholder of Mercedes-Benz and a joint venture operator of the smart brand, and the third largest shareholder of the ultra-luxury brand Aston Martin. Geely Holding also has a very noteworthy subsidiary, Geely Technology Group. Its business covers cutting-edge technology tracks such as travel services, on-board chips, low-orbit satellites, and low-altitude travel, supporting the intelligent transformation of Geely Holdings. Qianjiang Motorcycle, Time and Space Daoyu, Wo Fei Changkong, etc. were all under his control. Don't forget, there is also the Geely Talent Development Group mentioned above and so on. Of course, having the right to speak does not mean that Li Shufu will intervene. As early as 2013, he publicly declared that he had “not engaged in specific things.” However, there were too many businesses in his hands, and Li Shufu still needed time to smoothly hand over all of them. Who's next? Among Chinese car companies, there are far more than just the Geely family facing the problem of handover. Almost 50 years have passed since the reform and opening up. Most of China's private manufacturing companies with a certain scale have already faced or are about to face the problem of "creating a generation" succession. How do you transition from founder-driven to system-driven? How do you maintain your company's strategic steadiness and execution even after the founder has retired? This is a matter of the times. Now, Geely gave her answer. Before Geely, Zhang Xinghai, founder of the Cyrus Group, announced the turnover earlier. It was just that he had taken a different path from Geely. In June this year, Zhang Zhengping, the son of Zhang Xinghai, took over as "Chairman of Selis Automobile". At the level of the Cyrus Group, Zhang Xinghai is still at the helm, and the position of Group President is handed over to the professional manager Yin Xian. In the next few years, I am afraid that the time has come for the Great Wall and BYD to make a deal. Today, Wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall Motor, is 62 years old, and Wang Chuanfu, chairman of BYD, is 60 years old. Great Wall Motor is already training successors. Wei Zihan, the daughter of Wei Jianjun, began to take charge of the "Aihe City Education Technology Group" under Great Wall Holdings in 2019, and began to rotate in Great Wall Automobile from the second year. In June 2022, Great Wall Automobile announced that Wei Zihan had been appointed as the assistant chairman of the company. This position was established for the first time by Great Wall Motor. On the other hand, BYD has not yet let the outside world see a clear succession plan. Compared to the Great Wall and BYD, I'm afraid Chery should be in a hurry. Although Chery Motors is a local state-owned enterprise, Yin Tongyue, 64, has been at the helm since the company's inception and has not disclosed any successor arrangements. Conclusion Although he withdrew from the board of directors of the core company, Li Shufu still firmly grasped the voice of the "Geely Empire". In the coming years, he is expected to continue to promote his corporate heritage philosophy in the context of continuous letting go and correcting deviations. At the same time, the "succession" plan of a group of well-known private enterprises in the automotive industry will also surface. Someone will hand it over to a professional manager and someone will pass it on to their children. Regardless of which model you choose, you need to take the corresponding risks: inheritance of children, which greatly tests personal ability and family relationships; and handing over professional managers, you have to prevent the other party from pursuing short-term performance and personal interests too much. Do you prefer professional managers or businesses with children taking over?