Geely vows not to “touch the Volvo DNA”

Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd., which acquired Swedish automaker Volvo from Ford Motor Co. last year for US$1.8 billion, has vowed to have Volvo run by Volvo people and not “touch the Volvo DNA.”  Li Shufu, chairman of Geely, said Volvo was like a tiger, “To liberate the tiger, we need to think of how to uncover the value in Volvo.”  Headquartered in Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang province, Geely has six vehicle and power assembly manufacturing bases in Linhai, Ningbo, Shanghai, Lanzhou and Xiangtan. The company now has an annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles, engines and transmissions. Meanwhile, Paul de Voijs, managing director of Volvo Auto India said that there were no plans to build a manufacturing plant in India at this time as it was not economically viable. He said that electric cars, such as the Volvo C30 Electric, could be introduced in India when a market develops.  Volvo Auto India hopes to sell between 400-600 cars in 2011. (May 11, 2011)