Econintersect: Last summer Geely Holding Group of China completed its acquisition Ford Motor Co.’s Volvo unit for $1.5 billion. Now comes an announcement that the Chinese manufacturing base for Volvo will be in southwest China’s Chengdu City. Shanghai and northeast China’s Daqing City also had been vying for new Volvo factories. Whether further manufacturing plans will be forthcoming is not known. However, Volvo plans a news conference to announce its strategy in China later this week in Beijing, the Chengdu Overseas Media Service, a local media group, reported, citing officials from the city’s trade development zone.The legendary Swedish automaker was China’s biggest foreign auto acquisition and an unusually large deal for a private Chinese company.
Industry analysts say 13-year-old Geely, barely known abroad, will face a struggle in integrating the two corporate cultures and turning around Volvo Cars, a perennial money-loser in a country with strong labor unions. The new plant in China will reportedly build compact and economy cars for the Chinese market.
Sources: Shanghai Daily and The Christian Science Monitor