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Cars

Volvo aims to sell 200,000 cars in China by '15

Updated: 2011-02-25 17:02

(Xinhua)

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BEIJING - Volvo Car Corp. announced Friday it will build two manufacturing bases in the west China city of Chengdu and northeastern Daqing over the next five years in an ambitious expansion that aims for car sales in China of 200,000 by 2015.

Volvo aimed to clinch 20 percent of the Chinese luxury car market by 2015, said Volvo chief executive officer and president Stefan Jacoby at a press briefing in Beijing.

Jacoby said the establishment of the two manufacturing bases was endorsed by Volvo's board of directors, but was yet to be approved by the Chinese government.

Last month, the Swedish automaker announced the establishment of its Chinese headquarters and an attached technology center in Shanghai.

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The manufacturing base in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, would comprise a vehicle assembly plant, an engine plant and a transmission plant, said Li Hua, deputy director of the economic development zone of Chengdu, who is familiar with the investment.

The vehicle plant was slated to begin production by 2013 with an initial annual capacity of 100,000, Li said.

The manufacturing base would include Volvo's three western centers for research, parts and components procurement and marketing, said Li.

Volvo, formerly owned by Ford Motor Co, was taken over in August last year by privately-owned Chinese automaker Geely Holding Group for $1.8 billion.

The deal enabled the Hangzhou-based firm in east China's Zhejiang province to obtain advanced technologies from Volvo as well as the prestigious brand.

Volvo sales rose 11.2 percent year-on-year to 374,000 vehicles last year, with sales in China up 36 percent to exceed 30,000.

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