Currently, Volvo’s Swedish Torslanda plant is working at a reduced capacity due to the sluggish demand, so the news can only bring joy to the Swedish company's employees.
"It will be hugely beneficial to have a Chinese partner or owner, as access to the Chinese market has got to be bigger than the 30,000 (vehicles) that we will sell there this year," Stephen Odell, Volvo’s Chief Executive was quoted as saying by Dow Jones. "It's an immediate bolt-on opportunity. Unless you are connected in China it's very difficult to get business from the Chinese government and institutions. There could be over 80,000 units of opportunity just through that route," he added.
The Volvo-Geely deal’s contract is expected to be signed by the end of the month, while the actual sale completion should come in June.
Volvo’s up-market cars saw a 25 percent sales increase during the last quarter of last year and the trend set then was also followed in the following months. "We're pretty confident we can build and sell up to 40,000 more cars this year than we did in 2009. We're not declaring victory; it's just that we're definitely on an upward trend," Odell told the aforementioned source.
Recent rumors show that, once the Volvo acquisition is completed, one of the the Swedish brand’s models may become the Chinese state’s official car. The current vehicle used by the Chinese authorities is the Audi A6.
Google News