China's Geely Automobile will buy just over a third of Renault's Korea unit for roughly $200 million, potentially helping it boost U.S. exports, and freeing up funds for the French automaker to invest in its electric business.
Renault, which can assemble 300,000 vehicles a year in its factory in Busan, South Korea, is in the middle of a turnaround aimed at increasing margins and separating its electric vehicle (EV) business to catch up with rivals such as Tesla.
The French firm's move to sell the stake to Geely - which owns Volvo Cars and a 9.7% stake in Daimler AG - follows an announcement by the two companies in January to develop hybrid vehicles for South Korea and abroad, produced at the Busan plant.
For Geely, which has typically grown its business through global partnerships, the deal goes beyond selling cars in South Korea and is a way for the Chinese automaker to export cars made in South Korea to America, a person close to the company said.
The person said that while the details of how the partnership would work had not yet been sorted completely, Geely might initially use the Busan plant to make electric robotaxis for Waymo, Alphabet Inc's self-driving unit with which it has an existing supply agreement.
