Monday, August 24, 2015
Volvo to consider producing small cars at it's Ghent, Belgium facility, as well as in China !
Volvo will build a new family of compact cars based on a common platform at its Belgian factory, CEO Hakan Samuelsson said. The cars will be developed with parent Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, Samuelsson said, and will also likely be built in China, although no decision has been reached on which of its plants will get the work.
"We have decided we will be using Ghent for Europe," Samuelsson said, referring to Volvo's factory in Ghent, Belgium. "In China, we have to look into this." Volvo currently builds the Volvo S60, V40 and XC60 models in Ghent.
Samuelsson said it was a "good guess" that the first Volvo vehicle to be built using the new platform, called the compact modular architecture (CMA), would be a new generation of the Volvo V40 hatchback, since it is the only compact that Volvo markets around the world now.
Samuelsson said Volvo's sales of smaller cars had always been too small to be profitable and the automaker needed a partner that could share the costs of developing and manufacturing a competitive vehicle.
China output
The executive said the automaker has three production options in China with Geely: two existing plants in the southwestern city of Chengdu and the northeast city of Daqing, or a new automobile assembly plant being built in Luqiao, a district of the eastern China city of Taizhou.
Two sources close to Geely said Volvo and its Chinese parent were likely to make cars based on the CMA platform together at the Luqiao plant.
Geely is expected to start producing an SUV based on CMA underpinnings at the Luqiao plant toward the end of 2016.
Volvo is also interested in using a common platform and powertrain technologies with Geely to come up with a small SUV, Samuelsson said.
"SUVs are growing in the world, so that is a good guess that something in that segment will be worth taking a look at," the CEO said.
Zhejiang Geely, which also owns black cab maker London Taxi Company, bought Volvo from Ford Motor Co. in 2010.
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