Volvo claims to cooperate with Chinese auto companies to expand production scale

According to foreign media reports, Volvo's new CEO Stefan Jacoby stated to the outside world that Volvo will produce “emotional models” in China in the future, and if necessary cooperate with competitors to obtain economies of scale.

Jacoby is the former CEO of German automaker Volkswagen North America. He was named Volvo's new CEO after Geely's acquisition of Volvo was completed earlier this month. Jacoby points out that the first task after taking office is to expand the Volvo brand's influence in China and find new opportunities in the Chinese auto market. Jacoby said: "We can expand the scale, but we will not simply copy the model of competitors such as BMW. Volvo is a representative of security, quality and trust, but the emotional positioning is not outstanding, Volvo needs to build a Swedish-based, Self-positioning with unique personality.” Last year, China surpassed the United States to become the world’s largest auto market with over 13 million car sales. Against this background, Jacoby believes that for Volvo, the Chinese market is pregnant with great opportunities.

Geely plans to double Volvo's annual global production and build a new factory in China while continuing to operate Volvo's European operations to meet the needs of the international market. Jacoby said that Volvo will use its own strengths to win the competition with other automakers, and Volvo will adopt a wise and intelligent solution to overcome the disadvantage of having no economies of scale, which is exactly what its competitors have. . He said frankly: "Volvo has the opportunity to cooperate with suppliers, and may even establish partnerships with competitors, but more importantly, to play the synergy between Volvo and Geely."

Analysts previously questioned whether small brands such as Volvo could shoulder the huge cost of product development. After all, Volvo sales in 2009 fell from 483,323 at the peak of 2007 to 333,808. Jacoby is currently seeking measures to help Volvo realize full-year profit for the first time since 2005. He revealed that Volvo was profitable in the last two quarters of Ford's business, but Jacoby declined to disclose specific earnings and sales.

Geely said that it is preparing to inject 900 million U.S. dollars into Volvo. Jacoby said that in June Geely invited him to become the new CEO of Volvo. “I was very surprised at the beginning, and I like to continue working for VW North America, but Geely's chairman Li Shufu's ambition to convince Volvo has persuaded me and made me willing to meet new challenges,” said Jacoby.

After Jacoby’s inauguration, Volvo’s former CEO Stephen Oder will return to Ford’s European region as CEO.