Just as electric vehicles gain traction, the world’s largest oil company and big automakers are coming together to create a combustion-engine venture. It’ll be hard to stop them.
Saudi Arabian Oil Co., known as Aramco, earlier this month signed an agreement to become a potential minority stakeholder in a 50-50 venture between China’s domestic auto champion Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. and French firm Renault SA, focused on gas-guzzling and hybrid powertrains. The car companies joined forces in November to build next-generation and more fuel-efficient engines to supply to a range of vehicle brands, including their shareholders. Prior to that, the firms had announced a collaboration to bring fuel-efficient cars to South Korea.
