SINGAPORE--One of China's pioneering car executives is stepping down from the leadership of his group's core auto unit after building it into an export powerhouse.

Li Shufu, 63, built the company now called Geely Automobile and its parent, Zhejiang Geely Holding, from the ground up starting in the 1980s. He turned it into one of the world's top 10 automakers by vehicle sales when including the sales of Volvo, which Zhejiang Geely Holding acquired from Ford in 2010.

Geely Automobile said Monday that Li, also known as Eric Li, would step down as its chairman effective Tuesday while remaining chairman of Zhejiang Geely Holding. Li remains the controlling shareholder of Geely Automobile.

Li also owns 9.69% of Mercedes-Benz through an investment company, a stake he acquired in 2018.

An Conghui, also known as Andy An, will replace Li as Geely Automobile's chairman. An, a longtime Geely executive, has been leading the company's luxury brands.

Geely Automobile is China's second-largest electric vehicle maker after BYD. Like many of its peers, it is facing subdued consumer demand and intense competition at home, which is pushing it to look abroad for growth.

The Hangzhou-based company's monthly exports topped 100,000 units for the first time in June. In the first half of the year, Geely more than doubled overseas deliveries to 474,228 units. That helped sales grow 1% overall to 1.42 million vehicles, overcoming a fall in domestic sales. Net profit moved slightly lower.

New-energy vehicles--a category that includes plug-in hybrids and full battery EVs--accounted for more than half of Geely's total deliveries during the period. Zeekr, its luxury EV brand, drove growth with sales nearly doubling from a year earlier.

Geely has stepped up its push into Europe, recently entering a manufacturing partnership with Ford. The Chinese automaker will build two electric sport-utility vehicles at Ford's factory in Spain, and the two companies will jointly develop a new model.

A farmer's son, Li founded a refrigerator company in the 1980s and later started Geely, whose early products included motorbikes. Li received government clearance to produce cars in 2001, becoming the first private-sector auto maker in China.

In addition to the Volvo acquisition, Li's group has expanded its global footprint through investments in brands including Lotus and Malaysia's Proton.