Volvo Cars to produce Lynk & Co cars at Ghent, Belgium plant
Mar-28-2018 By : fcccadmin
(photo by Eric Demurie, Volvo Car Gent)
Volvo Cars, the premium car maker, will produce cars for the new car brand Lynk & Co in Volvo Cars’ manufacturing plant in Ghent, Belgium from late 2019.
The announcement represents a closer collaboration between the two companies, following Volvo Cars’ acquisition of a 30 per cent stake in Lynk & Co last year. Lynk & Co was launched as a new volume brand by Zhejiang Geely Holding, the owner of Volvo Cars, in 2015.
By providing Lynk & Co with production capacity at its Ghent plant, Volvo Cars is backing the expansion of the new car brand in Europe and further diversifying its business.
“We see a big potential for this new brand entering the European market and we are happy to give Lynk & Co the support of Volvo’s technological and industrial expertise,” said Håkan Samuelsson, president and CEO of Volvo Cars.
Joint production with Lynk & Co will also have a positive effect on cost levels, employment and production volumes at the Ghent plant, while generating further economies of scale related to the Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) used by both Volvo Cars and Lynk & Co.
“Our Ghent plant is one of the most efficient car manufacturing plants in Europe with a highly skilled workforce,” said Javier Varela, senior vice president for manufacturing and logistics at Volvo Cars. “Lynk & Co’s decision to pick Ghent for their European production demonstrates the high levels of quality control that underpin Volvo’s global manufacturing strategy.”
The closer collaboration between Volvo Cars and its sister brand comes as the company is entering a phase of global growth following the complete transformation of its business in recent years.
Volvo Cars is creating a diversified, modern car company that includes an electrified performance arm, a software start-up, a car subscription business, the stake in Lynk & Co and a technology-sharing joint venture that creates synergies within the wider Volvo Car Group and the Zhejiang Geely Holding group.
Ghent is one of two car manufacturing plants operated by Volvo Cars in Europe and has produced Volvos since 1965. At the moment it employs around 5,000 people.
The Ghent plant currently builds the XC40, Volvo’s first entry in the fast-growing small SUV segment, which was named 2018 European Car of the Year last month at the Geneva Motor Show. Ghent also builds the V40 and V40 Cross Country hatchbacks as well as the S60 sedan, and will soon start producing the all-new V60 five-door, mid-size estate revealed in February this year.
Besides Volvo Cars’ holding of 30 per cent of the shares in Lynk & Co, Geely Auto owns 50 per cent and Zhejiang Geely Holding 20 per cent in Lynk & Co.
A press conference was held with Belgian Vice-Premier Mr Kris Peeters and Flanders Minister of Labor Mr Philippe Muyters, together with the top-level managers of the three companies, Mr Alain Visser (Senior Vice President Lynk&Co), Mr An (President of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group), Mr Javier Varela (Senior Vice President Production & Logistics Volvo Cars), and Mr Eric Van Landeghem, MD & Plant Manager.
The Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce was represented by Gwenn Sonck, Executive Director, at the launch of the Lynk & Co brand.
Visit of Minhang Delegation on 24 March 2018
Mar-27-2018 By : fcccadmin
On Saturday 24 March 2018, the Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce received a delegation from Minhang District. The delegation visited Agfa Graphics and gave an introduction on the investment environment of Minhang District. Mr Stefaan Vanhooren, President of Agfa-Graphics and Chairman of the FCCC gave a presentation about Agfa-Graphics and explained more about Agfa’s activities during a company tour. Ms Gwenn Sonck introduced the role and activities of the FCCC and the EUCBA.
Minhang District is one of the most developed poles in the Shanghai area. Minhang has a strategical position as a transportation hub, being the Hongqiao Integrated Transportation Hub, the largest of its kind in China, and even in the world, with a daily flow of over 850,000 travelers and an annual flow of more than 300 million. Given the fact that the Chinese central government is implementing “the Belt and Road” as well as “Yangtze River Economic Belt”, Hongqiao Business District will be offering many opportunities, due to the fact that both large-scale projects will converge in this area of the Yangtze River.
Minhang District is an important area regarding population with around 2.54 million inhabitants. The total GDP is estimated to be of CNY210.13 billion.
The Yangtze River Delta area and its surroundings is one of the most productive poles for technological development and innovation in mainland China. Minhang District stands out as a place for the advanced manufacturing industry to be developed. The key areas for the development of the advanced manufacturing industry are the following: high-end equipment manufacturing; new generation of information technology; biological pharmacy; new materials; intelligent manufacturing; and urban industry.
On 16 and 17 April, Gwenn Sonck, Executive Director FCCC, will meet the relevant authorities in Minhang District. If members have specific questions on Minhang District, please send an e-mail to: gwenn.sonck@flanders-china.be.
VIV China – Nanjing – 17-19 September 2018 – Nanjing
By : fcccadmin
Flanders Investment & Trade is inviting companies to join its group booth/Product Sample Booth (PSB) at VIV China – Nanjing, a two-yearly expo of husbandry and processing. The expo will take place from 17 to 19 September 2018 in Nanjing, China.
Interested companies can register till March 30, 2018.
More information is available here.
Opening salvoes in U.S.-China trade war reverberate
By : fcccadmin
U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on about USD60 billion in Chinese imports to retaliate against the alleged theft of American intellectual property. The new import duties will target industrial sectors where “China has sought to acquire an advantage through the unfair acquisition or forced technology transfer from U.S. companies,” senior White House Economic Adviser Everett Eissenstat announced. Trump will instruct U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to publish a proposed list of products that could be subject to tariffs. The U.S. said it would release details of the products affected within 15 days. As well as the tariffs, Trump has also instructed Finance Secretary Mnuchin to propose new investment restrictions on Chinese companies within 60 days.
The U.S. action sent stocks diving on Wall Street, and triggered an immediate response from the Chinese government with retaliatory action. China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said China will “take all necessary measures” to defend its rights and interests. “China will absolutely not sit back watching its rights and interests be damaged,” said an official at the Ministry’s Treaty and Law Department. “Concerning the Section 301 investigation, China has made clear its position several times that it stands firmly against such unilateral and trade protectionist practices from the U.S. side,” the official said.
China retaliated by levying punitive tariffs on USD3 billion of goods imported from the U.S. Those goods include 128 U.S. agricultural and steel products. China plans to levy 15% tariffs on 120 types of U.S. products, including fruit, wine and steel pipes, worth USD977 million. It also plans to impose 25% tariffs on another eight categories of products worth USD2 billion, including pork and recycled aluminum.
This modest initial response could be supplemented by other measures. China’s Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that “China’s market receives the largest number of U.S. planes and soybeans and the second largest number of U.S. cars and cotton”. The Chinese Embassy in Washington said in a statement: “If a trade war were initiated by the U.S., China would fight to the end to defend its own legitimate interests with all necessary measures.” Cui Tiankai, China’s Ambassador to the U.S., said that China is “looking at all options” in response to Trump’s trade action. “We don’t want any trade war with anyone,” Cui was quoted. “We are still trying to avoid one with the U.S. “If a trade war is forced on us, we have to fight back.” Arthur Kroeber, Research Director and Co-founder of Gavekal Dragonomics, said China surely has “an equally specific, but longer”, list of targets ready to go when Washington finally unveils its Section 301 tariff list.
According to China’s official People’s Daily newspaper, Apple, Boeing, Intel, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments would be among the biggest losers in a China-U.S. trade war. Vice Premier Liu He spoke to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin over the phone during the weekend in what was the first high-level contact between the two governments since the White House revealed the trade measures. Liu told Mnuchin that the U.S. investigation into China’s alleged breaches of intellectual property rights went against international trade rules and would not benefit the U.S., China or the rest of the world. “We hope both sides will be rational and work hard to maintain the stability of the overall China-US trade relationship,” he said.
According to the South China Morning Post, China could retaliate further by imposing tariffs on imports of U.S. soybeans, motor vehicles, aircraft, and electronics components and semiconductors. China is the world’s biggest importer of soybeans, most of which are used for animal feed. In 2017, it was also the second-largest importer of U.S. agricultural products, buying USD19.6 billion of goods. Any punitive tariffs on soybeans would have a huge impact on American farmers. In 2017, the U.S. sold more than USD10 billion worth of vehicles to China, its second-largest export market after Canada. In 2010-17 General Motors sold more cars and trucks per year in China than it did in the United States. Last year alone, the totals were 3.9 million for China – or almost 39% of its global total – and just 3 million in the U.S. Boeing Corporation delivered 202 planes to China in 2017 – or 26% of its global total – making the country its largest market outside the U.S.
China might also consider curbing tourism to the U.S. In 2016, the number of Chinese visitors to America rose 15.4% from the year before to 3 million. In that year alone, spending by Chinese visitors in the U.S. – including on education – topped USD33 billion, making them the country’s biggest foreign spenders. Finally, the Chinese government could consider reducing its holdings of U.S. treasury bonds, which would push up U.S. interest rates. The country held almost USD1.2 trillion worth of the debt instruments at the end of December 2017.
Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook called for “calm heads” and more open trade. “I’m cognizant that in both the U.S. and China, there have been cases where everyone hasn’t benefited, where the benefit hasn’t been balanced,” Cook said at the annual China Development Forum in Beijing. Tim Cook has visited China several times in the past year. “My belief is that one plus one equals three. The pie gets larger, working together,” Cook said.
Consul General Zhang Qiyue says Chinese market will further open to foreign investors
By : fcccadmin
Speaking at a China General Chamber of Commerce USA event, New York-based Chinese Consul General Zhang Qiyue said barriers will be removed or eased for foreign investors in the country’s financial sector and that market entry standards will be the same for Chinese and foreign banks. Mrs Zhang is the former Chinese Ambassador in Belgium. She further promised that the reforms would be “beyond expectations”. She made the remarks before U.S. President Trump imposed USD60 billion worth of new tariffs on Chinese imports.
“Many more measures will be introduced this year and some of the measures will be beyond the expectations of foreign companies and investors,” she said. Zhang’s comments echo those made by China’s Premier Li Keqiang at the end of the National People’s Congress session. “We will fully open up the manufacturing sector, with no mandatory technology transfers allowed, and we will protect intellectual property,” Li told a press conference in Beijing. Zhang provided more detail on the scope of market openings China’s government is planning for foreign investors. “The general manufacturing sector will be completely opened up and access to sectors like telecommunications, medical services, education, elderly care and new energy vehicles will be expanded,” Zhang said in New York. “China will phase in the opening up of bank card clearing and other markets, lift restrictions on the scope of operations of foreign-invested insurance companies and ease or lift restrictions on the share of foreign-owned equity in companies in sectors including banking, securities, fund management, futures and financial asset management.”
“China could be more specific on the timetable for the financial liberalization,” Nicholas Lardy, Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told the South China Morning Post in a recent interview. “They’ve announced the intention to raise these caps, but I don’t think they’ve put out the implementing regulations that will allow it, and they haven’t been fully clear about in which of these financial sub-sectors the caps are going to be eliminated completely,” Lardy said. “This makes it difficult for financial institutions to plan,” the South China Morning Post reports.
- KURT VANDEPUTTE (UMICORE) APPOINTED CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF THE FLANDERS-CHINA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (FCCC)
- Webinar: “Knowing Your Chinese Partner” – May 26, 2021, 10 am – 12 am
- EMA starts rolling review of CoronaVac, WHO approves Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use
- The Global Times warns not to politicize the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI)
- Hainan to become biggest duty-free market in the world