Geely Will Unveil Compact Car Developed with Volvo at Geneva Show

9 years, 4 months ago - 17 June 2015, Automotive News
Geely Will Unveil Compact Car Developed with Volvo at Geneva Show
Geely Automobile Holdings plans to display the first compact car jointly developed with Volvo in March at the Geneva auto show next March.

Geely and Volvo are both subsidiaries of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., a private Chinese automaker.

The car is underpinned by a compact modular architecture (CMA) that Geely jointly developed with Volvo.

Geely Auto and Volvo each will develop a series of models using the shared architecture. But the shared platform will not affect the brand positioning of Geely or Volvo, according to Geely and Volvo Chairman Li Shufu.

"Volvo will continue to target the global luxury market, while Geely will serve the mass market," the chairman said.

Volvo has said it will use the new CMA platform to replace the current V40 and will roll it out to other compact models later.

Li revealed the plans to unveil the Geely vehicle at an industry forum last week in the southwest China municipality of Chongqing.

"Geely will thus embark on a healthier and faster track for technology upgrade and [business] transformation," Li said. He didn't provide further details about the vehicle, which will go on sale in China late next year.

Geely acquired Volvo in 2010 from Ford Motor Co. In 2013, Geely Automobile and Volvo opened a joint r&d center in Volvo's hometown of Gothenburg in Sweden, to develop a modular architecture and components for C-segment cars for both companies.