Polestar, Volvo Car Corp.’s electrified performance-vehicle brand, launched hybrid and electric vehicle output at a new plant in the southwest China city of Chengdu. Polestar, a Tesla challenger, is targeting sales in China and abroad.
The first product to be assembled at the factory, known as the Polestar Production Center, is the Polestar 1, a carbon fiber-bodied hybrid coupe with 600 hp and 1,000 Nm of torque.

The Chengdu site, which includes a customer experience center and test track, is jointly owned by Volvo and its corporate parent, Zhejiang Geely Holdings Group. The center will build 500 Polestar 1s each year, with total output of 1,500 planned over a three-year production cycle, Polestar said. Polestar expects to start delivering the hybrid to customers before the end of the year.

Production of the brand’s second product, the Polestar 2 electric midsize sedan, is due to begin in early 2020 at Geely’s Luqiao factory in east China’s Zhejiang province, which now builds the Volvo XC40 and the Lynk & CO 01 crossovers.

All the three vehicles are based on Volvo’s new compact car platform dubbed Compact Modular Architecture. Lynk & CO is a brand jointly owned by Geely and Volvo.

Earlier this year, Polestar started taking orders for its first two models in China: The Polestar 1 carries a price tag of 1.45 million yuan ($202,514) while the Polestar 2 has a starting price of 298,000 yuan. The brand aims to open 20 stores in China by the end of next year.

It expects to open the first store in the Chinese capital city of Beijing in the third quarter, with plans for stores in ten other major Chinese cities — including Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, Xi’an, Nanjing and Xiamen — before the end of 2020.

Polestar also expects to export the two China-built vehicles to Western Europe and North America, though it has yet to set timetables for the shipment.

Mr Jon France of GSMA (left) and Mr Zhong Hong, ZTE’s Chief Security Officer (right)

Following Huawei, which opened its cybersecurity center in Brussels four months ago, its Chinese competitor ZTE is following suit. In a show of commitment to security in the ICT sector, ZTE launched its Cybersecurity Lab Europe in Brussels on July 10. The company said the lab “will provide a much wider range of access to the external security verification of ZTE’s products, services and processes, and will facilitate the external cooperation in the security field with stakeholders”. As part of its transparency initiative, ZTE had already set up two cybersecurity labs, in Nanjing, China, and in Rome, Italy, in May. The three centers will be connected in real time to create a unified platform.

According to a ZTE press release, “the lab provides four essential functions, including source code review, document review, black box testing and penetration testing. In addition, ZTE will conduct in-depth researches of the security field in the lab, in partnerships with industry-leading security organizations. Moreover, the lab will play a significant role in guaranteeing the security of the company’s 5G solutions in the 5G era.” Representatives of the European Commission and of the European Council, as well as telecoms operators, GSMA and other industry associations, have attended the opening ceremony.

“ZTE’s original intention of the Cybersecurity Lab Europe is to provide global customers, regulators and other stakeholders with great transparency by means of verification and communication,” said Zhong Hong, ZTE’s Chief Security Officer. “The security for the ICT industry cannot be guarded by one sole vendor, or by one sole telecoms operator. ZTE is willing to play an important role in contributing to the industry’s security along with its customers and all other stakeholders.”

(From left: Geert Pauwels, CEO Lineas; Daan Schalck, CEO North Sea Port; Stefan Fesser, CEO Volvo Cars Gent; Gwenn Sonck, Executive Director FCCC & EU-China Business Association; Zhai Ruopeng, Vice General Manager ITL Group)

On July 4, 2019, the first mixed transportation train carrying 190 Chinese-made Volvo’s arrived in the North Sea Port in Ghent, Belgium. Departing in Xi’an, China, the train covers a distance of 10,000km in 22 days to bring the cars to their new destination. The train will run twice a week and will transport XC60s from Xi’an to Ghent and will return to the port of Xi’an carrying XC90s, V90s and V60s. Zhai Ruopeng, vice general manager of Xi’an’s International Inland Port Investment and Development Group, emphasized the importance of the One Belt One Road project and praised the city of Gent for taking part in the initiative. “Our aim is to deliver our vehicles as quickly as possible to the final customer. By establishing the new rail transport directly to Volvo Car Gent we will reduce the lead time to customers up to 50%. This demonstrates our commitment to drive efficient and sustainable solutions along the entire supply chain” says Steffan Fesser, CEO of Volvo Cars Gent.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meeting with the foreign experts

On January 24 and 25, Mr Dirk Fransaer of VITO was invited by the Research Office of the State Council and the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs to participate in the Foreign Experts Consultation Symposium of the People’s Republic of China.

There are only 11 experts worldwide who were invited for this high level consultation symposium. Dirk Fransaer is one of them and he is the only expert representing Belgium/Flanders.

Other experts are e.g. Mr. Paul Romer, 2018 Noble Price winner in Economics; Konstantin Noveselov, Noble Price winner in Physics; and Mr. Klaus Topfer, former German Environmental Minister.

All the experts were also received by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on January 25 in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

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