The Way Volvo Wants to Succeed in China - 150K Sold Cars Per Year

Geely and Ford have already reached an agreement on the Volvo takeover, but the two companies are still working on the terms of the deal, with the final signature expected in the third quarter of this year. However, Geely is already making the final touches to Volvo's Chinese strategy, according to Shanghai Securities News.

Basically, Geely will try to bring Volvo in China and move a part of the Swedish production in its very own local factories. Thus, several products will be manufactured in China, with some new plants to be constructed in the years to come, paving the way to total sales of 150,000 units per year.

The first model to arrive in China on the Geely-Volvo route is the XC60, which is expected to enter Chinese assembly lines just after Ford signs the transaction papers. The new S60 will follow soon, probably in the first months of the next year, with both models to be launched locally in early 2011.

At this time, Volvo is building two separate models in China, namely S40 and S80, both of them assembled by Changan-Ford-Mazda but production of the first one is going to be halted in the near future, according to the aforementioned source. S80 will remain in the production for the time being, but the model is very likely to be transferred to Volvo's new plant as soon as it opens its doors.

Geely is already conducting feasibility studies for the site of the future factory and the list has been narrowed down to capital Beijing, Chengdu in the southeast and Ningbo in the east, plus a few still unconfirmed locations.