By LIU Jiaxin

Tianqi Lithium Corporation has signed an agreement with Smart to invest $150 million (1.1 billion yuan) in the German car maker Smart. The cooperation extends both upstream and downstream in the new energy industry.

Back in July, Smart began Series A financing, with plans to raise up to US$300 million, led by Tianqi Lithium. The investment plan is now settled.

Tianqi covers lithium mining and derivative lithium products. It is the largest supplier of core materials for lithium-ion batteries to the EV sector in China, with a net profit of 6.5 billion yuan in the first half of the year.

Smart has been jointly owned by Geely Holding Group and Mercedes-Benz since 2020. Since then, Smart has released two new models with over 30,000 vehicles delivered in China this year. 

In March, Smart began deliveries overseas.

Tianqi Lithium also has similar agreements with Mercedes-Benz and Geely. Geely is in transition to full electrification. Out of 1.43 million cars sold last year, Geely shipped 640,000 EVs. Geely's EV sales reached 694,000 units in the first half of this year.

Mercedes-Benz began its electrification transformation in 2021 and aims to offer a fully electric lineup by 2030. At this year's Munich Motor Show, Mercedes-Benz unveiled the CLA concept car, the first pure electric vehicle built on the Modular Electric Architecture (MEA) platform and powered by the new MB.OS operating system. This vehicle will commence in Europe in 2024, followed by production in China a few months later, before its official market release.