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Volvo Car Group’s newest, fanciest car has a built-in refrigeration compartment, handmade crystal Orrefors glassware — and the hopes of China’s premium auto-manufacturing industry riding on it.
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Volvo Cars’ Chinese owner, unveiled upgraded versions of its S90 sedan, including the top-of-the range S90 Excellence, in Shanghai on Wednesday.
The executive vehicles will be made in Daqing, China’s oil capital, and represent the latest product of a reinvigorated research and development program that’s bolstered profit and helped drive record sales for the Swedish icon.
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Eventually, production of the premium cars will move from Europe to China, where Geely is building a third factory, in Luqiao, for making both Volvos and mid-tier Lynk & Co.-brand cars, the company said in a statement. The changes are part of billionaire Li Shufu’s plan to make China a global manufacturing and export hub for its new range of cars.
“China will play an increasingly important part in our global manufacturing ambitions,” said Hakan Samuelsson, Volvo’s chief executive officer, in the statement. “Our factories here will deliver world-class products for export across the globe in coming years, contributing to our objective of selling up to 800,000 cars a year by 2020.”
One-third of Volvo’s global production will be out of China by 2020, Samuelsson said at the event to unveil the new model.
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