Volvo was part of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group until a few years ago. When the Blue Oval unbundled the upmarket brands under that umbrella (including Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin), the Swedish-based manufacturer found a new owner in the shape of China’s Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. The move was a very clever one by Geely, which saw the potential of tapping into the expertise that went along with Volvo, not least of all it’s knowledge in terms of safety systems.
Now the Chinese are set to start production of vehicles jointly developed with the Swedish company. Geely will start selling these new vehicles in 2015 as it competes with foreign brands in China. The new range is expected to also become available on local shores once exports take off.
Geely CEO Gui Sheng Yue said the private automaker has entered the actual research and development stage. “I believe we can see the new product in the year after next,” he said at a press conference in Hong Kong last week.
Sheng Yue added that the car was currently under development and is scheduled to be launched in 2015. He did not go into specifics, but the companies have already announced the car will ride on a new modular architecture that will underpin C-segment vehicles from both automakers.
The new Volvo/Geely developed model will be smaller than Volvo’s Scalable Platform Architecture (SPA) and is expected to deliver “considerable cost savings in terms of development, testing and sourcing”.
Geely Chairman Li Shufu has previously been quoted as saying the sharing of knowledge and technology had to be without jeopardising brand integrity and individual product development. “We believe a stand-alone, yet joint R&D Centre with a focused approach is the best way to achieve this.”
Geely reported first-half net income rose 37 percent to 1,4 billion Yuan (R2,28 billion), beating analysts’ estimates. Vehicle sales increased 19 percent to 263 544 units in the first six months, the company said, and maintained its full-year target at 560 000 vehicles.
