Geely Plans to Quintuple its Production by 2015

Volvo’s buyer, the Chinese carmaker Geely, has set itself an annual domestic production target of 1.5 million units, due to be achieved by 2015, a move that will quintuple the automotive producer’s current production figure, as Gasgoo reports.

Besides acquiring Volvo from Ford, Geely has recently announced that it will buy the Chinese special vehicle manufacturer Zhejiang Zhongyu Automobile Co. The company plans to use both acquisitions to change its business profile - it intends to add luxury and commercials vehicles to its current line-up that mainly features low-cost cars. Geely is also investing in the development of new energy cars, an effort supported by government subsidies.

When the Volvo deal will be complete (the transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of the current year), Geely plans to produce Volvo vehicles in China. The carmaker is expected to use Zhongyu’s production sites for this project until it will develop a dedicated Volvo factory in Beijing. Zhongyu Auto holds two production sites that have a combined output of 125,000 vehicles per year.

In addition to that, the company will invest $51.28 million in creating research & development facility dedicated to the Volvo brand. This will be based in the city of Hangzhou.

But Geely’s offensive doesn’t rely entirely on Volvo, as the company plans to introduce 20 new models during the current year, out of which six are entirely new models, 10 are redesigned vehicles and the rest are new energy cars and models with revised engine ranges. To support the new vehicles, Geely will create three sub-brands: Global Eagle, Emgrand and Englon.