Volvo Moves in New Chinese HQ

Having been passed over so smoothly by Ford to the Chinese from Geely last year, Swedish manufacturer Volvo is slowly coming to terms with the new management and, despite a few problems experienced at the decision making level last year, moves ahead with its plans in China.

Supported by the new owning company, Volvo unveiled this week its new headquarters in China, in Shanghai. The new building is part of the fast moving plan set in motion by Volvo a few months back to convert its status of sales division in China to a well established presence, with Hqs and research facilities.

"I am glad to see the China operations team has been set up and has made a huge progress over the last few months, expanding our business presence in China," Volvo's CEO Stefan Jacoby said in a statement cited by just-auto.com.

The company will conduct both its managerial business and a research arm from the new headquarters, whose cost was not made public. The goal is to have the 36 percent increase in sales in the country become an usual achievement, with the target for 2020 being set at Volvo to 300,000 in China (out of 800,000 units globally).

“China is the world's largest auto market. To capture the business growth and build Volvo Cars (into) an admired brand in China, (the company) has been strengthening the leadership team in China," added the company's senior vice president and chairman Freeman Shen. “Our goal is to build Volvo cars one of the most admired luxury car brands."