Volvo Car to introduce new models in the China market
July 31, 2018 Category China News Round-up, Weekly
Volvo Car plans to introduce more models into China. Chen Lizhe, Sales Manager of Volvo Car Greater China, said the company, owned by Chinese billionaire Li Shufu, will launch an imported all-new XC40 compact SUV in the Chinese market later this year. He added local production of the model will start in China from 2019. The carmaker will also offer the locally-made all-new S60 mid-sized sedan, the imported all-new V60 crossover, and the imported refreshed XC90 large SUV in 2019. Chen said the latest offerings will help Volvo expand its China sales to 200,000 cars in 2020 from 114,000 units last year. Globally, the company aims to sell 800,000 vehicles in 2020.
Volvo is one of several second-tier premium car producers in China, which also include Cadillac, Lexus and Jaguar Land Rover. They lag far behind Germany’s three premium car giants, BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz, each of which sold around 600,000 cars in China last year. Volvo’s Senior Vice President Yuan Xiaolin told China Daily: “Chairman Li Shufu expects we can sell 500,000 cars a year in China in the future, grabbing 2% of the country’s entire passenger vehicle market.” But Yuan, also President & CEO of Volvo’s Asia-Pacific operations, didn’t reveal a timetable for the longer term target. “Our biggest challenge at present is how to enable Chinese customers to think of and experience our products when they want to buy a luxury car. Our brand and product awareness is still limited among potential buyers in our biggest single market,” Yuan said. Volvo sold 18.4% more cars in China in the first half of this year compared with the same period in 2017, totaling 61,480 units, which is faster than the average growth rate of 15% in the premium car market.
According to Chen, Volvo aims to deliver a total of more than 130,000 cars in China this year. He said the all-new XC40, to be exported to China this year and locally-made in 2019, will target “stylish and self-confident young urbanites”. The compact SUV, which recently gained a five-star rating in Europe-NCAP crash tests, will go head-to-head with the Audi Q3, Jaguar E-pace and the Cadillac XT4 in the rapidly expanding segment. “The all-new XC40 will give Volvo a much younger brand image and help boost sales of our other products in China,” Chen said. Volvo now has 10 models and variants available in China. The company has three vehicle plants and an engine factory in China, the China Daily reports. Volvo now has a total of 234 dealerships in 143 Chinese cities.
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