Currently reading: Three Chinese plants for Volvo

New owner Geely to build up to three Volvo plants in China

Geely intends to build up to three new car plants in China to produce cars by recently acquired Volvo domestically.

The plants would give the Chinese firm the capacity to build nearly 300,000 of the Swedish firm’s cars each year.

Read more about Geely’s takeover of Volvo

Geely bought Volvo last month and faces the challenge of restoring the company back to profit. Volvo suffered a pre-tax loss of $653 million (£422m) in 2009.

Geely spokesman Ning Shuyong said possible locations for the plants are Chengdu, Daqing and the outskirts of Shanghai.

Duties on imports to China, and even between Chinese states, are very stringent so it is of benefit to manufacturers to build cars close to where they will be sold.

Read more on Geely's plans to shift Volvo upmarket and boost productionRead more on new CEO Stefan Jacoby's plans for Volvo

Geely has yet to announce a schedule for when the plants will be built. Li Shufu, Geely’s chairman and founder, said: "It takes time. It may take years."

Geely spokesman Shuyong added that the plan still needed to be approved by both Volvo and the Chinese government.

Andrew Papworth

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