Hyundai: a message to space
Volvo is preparing to send Made in China cars to U S.
Joe McDonald, Associated Press Published July 40 a m and April 23, September 07 Updating a 2015 m and 23 April 2015.
Hakan Samuelsson, President and CEO of Volvo automobile group, speaks near a Volvo XC90 car unveiled at the Shanghai auto show about to export the first cars made in China to the US, Volvo is determined to show they are as good as the vehicles it produces in Europe Photo Ng Han Guan AP.
Chengdu, China About to export the first Chinese cars in the United States, Volvo is determined to show they are as good as the vehicles it produces in Europe.
Unlike its European plants that verify some cars filled each lot, each vehicle that rolls over three years Volvo assembly line in this city in the southwest of China through a battery of five hours of testing on a track driving once a month, or three times more often than in Europe, Volvo rips a finished car in Chengdu to examine the quality of welds and other work.
The effort to persuade Americans to buy a luxury car in China is a new stage in the campaign of Volvo Car Corp. to position itself as a global luxury brand following its acquisition in 2010 by the Chinese manufacturer Geely.
I heard other customers asking where his car is built is built by Volvo and the Volvo quality, and of course Chengdu will be exactly the same, said CEO Hakan Samuelsson I am quite convinced that we will demonstrate that .
The sedan will be exported Chengdu is the S60 Register, based on Volvo S60L, a version of the S60 sedan designed for China with three extra space inches for rear seat legroom for buyers who have a driver and ride Volvo rear following car manufacturers including Cadillac and Mercedes Benz sedans that sell extended to the Chinese market customers typically the rear seats.
In June, the first US liØes S60 Entries must be sent on the Yangtze River in Shanghai, then across the Pacific to the United States Volvo plans to send about 5,000 per year in the US, according Samuelsson He said Volvo n ' no plans to export massively but, since this model will be produced only in China, will send a few to add to its range in the United States.
The decision follows a series of product quality scandals in the U S on faulty or tainted Chinese goods ranging from tires to toothpaste.
Yet Americans are pretty comfortable buying products made in China as the location of the Volvo plant is unlikely to matter as long as the company maintains its quality standards, said the analyst Yale Zhang Auto industry Foresight, a Shanghai research firm.
Many things are sold in America are made in China, said Zhang Now it's just another, a foreign brand is a car.
Exports of Chinese cars produced in the United States, even as a European brand, is an important step for the Communist Party, which wants to see its auto industry develop in the world markets.
A handful of young but ambitious Chinese auto brands have announced their intention to export to the United States or Western Europe to find that they could not meet emissions and safety standards.
For its part, Volvo has been exporting to the United States since the 1960s in its European plants in Gothenburg, Sweden and Ghent, Belgium.
The company wants its Chinese car factories in Chengdu and Daqing in the northeast and its engine plant in Zhangjiakou near Beijing to be considered an equal part of this network with the same technology, component suppliers and standards quality the company said the Chengdu plant's air emissions will be cleaner than the average car plant in Europe.
Volvo provides a U S assembly plant and said the location will be announced in the coming weeks.
We need to explore the global market, the founder and chairman of Geely, Li Shufu, told reporters at the Shanghai auto show this month.
Other foreign brands, including GM exporting vehicles made in China to other developing markets, but most say they need all their production capacity to supply China, the largest market for car by the number of vehicles sold.
Instead of being absorbed into Geely, which also sells cars under its own name, leaders say the 2010 Volvo acquisition released, which was a unit of Co vehicle platforms and shared Ford Motor and components with Ford brands Following the acquisition, Volvo launched a 11 billion campaign to create its own technology and models and expand its plant network and sales.
Everyone tells me that we are now more independent than we have ever been, says Samuelsson.
2014 was the best year ever for Volvo, with sales up 9 percent to 465.866 vehicles earnings were 2- 2 billion SEK 252 million turnover of 130 billion kronor in China was his largest market, accounting for 17 percent of sales, followed by Sweden with 13 percent and the US at 12 percent this year, the company says it aims to exceed sales of 500,000 vehicles for the first time.
Volvo is working with Geely on developing platforms Li shared vehicles, Geely chairman, said the Chinese brand wants to take advantage of his brothers and sisters Swedish expertise in safety and in cleaning the air inside the vehicle an important feature in China's Geely smog choked cities has launched its first vehicle manufactured with Volvo technology, Borui sedan.
With this partnership, Geely products can grow much faster than other competitors, said Zhang, the analyst.
Li said he avoided saying Swedish Volvo managers what to do, because he wants to protect the special qualities of a brand he admires When asked if Volvo could reduce prices in response to a slowdown in the automotive market Chinese, Li told a reporter would have to ask the Swedes.
Li Shufu is a very smart guy, said Zhang He understands the difference between the two marks and he deliberately tried not to interfere.
One area in which Li has been active with Volvo was in the development of extended sedan, according Samuelsson He said Volvo needed a Chinese-style vehicle, but with its roots in Scandinavia, where most buyers lead, missed a good experience.
His views influenced this as a customer very experienced back seat, said Samuelsson.
Volvo also won its Chinese property, a status it free of regulatory handicaps faced by automakers to foreign capital in China.
We can go much, much faster, said Lars Danielsson, a senior vice president in charge of Volvo China.
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