Volvo to set up China headquarters in Shanghai

ERJ staff report (AN)

Shanghai (Reuters) -- Volvo said it aims to become one of the leading luxury brands in China by 2015.

To help achieve the goal, the company will establish its China headquarters and a technology center in Shanghai, Volvo said today.

Volvo is aiming to boost sales in China to 200,000 cars by 2015 from a little over 30,000 last year, riding the wave of rapid growth in the world's biggest market, especially for premium vehicles.

Volvo Car expects China to become its biggest market as early as next year and its "second home market" after Sweden, Freeman Shen, the brand's China head, said on the sidelines of the Detroit auto show earlier this month.

Last year, Volvo's sales in Sweden were roughly double the sales in China, at nearly 60,000 units.

Volvo is looking to set up local production in China to reach to its 2015 goal.

Geely Holding Group bought Volvo Cars from Ford Motor Co. last year in China's biggest acquisition of a foreign carmaker, reflecting the country's rapid rise in the auto world.

From Automotive News (A Crain publication)