Volvo Has A Plan
Today was the big day when Geely-bought Volvo wanted to announce its plans for the future. They did not disappoint.
First, they need a new plant in China. Former VWoA and now Volvo CEO Stefan Jacoby, who wants to sell about 200,000 cars in China by 2015, said: “We regard the Chinese market as the second home market for Volvo Car Corporation and a very important part of the plan to build a successful future for the company.”
Several cities had been vying for the Volvo plant. The Jiading District of Shanghai and the city of Daqing in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang were seen as top contenders. They had helped with the financing of the deal.
Jiading will get Volvo’s Chinese headquarters and design center. Daqing will get nothing for the time being.
Volvo will “build a new plant in the southwestern city of Chengdu with capacity to produce 100,000 cars a year,” reports the Financial Times.. As far as Daqing is concerned, Volvo will “continue investigations” for a plant there.
Going to Chengdu will please the Chinese central government. It plays right into their “go west” policy. There are a lot of inducements for big companies that move their plants into the wild and open west, away from the heavily populated eastern seashore.
It is important for Geely owned Volvo top establish good relationships with the government. The Chinese government is the biggest buyer of cars in the country. The announced policy that 50 percent of the government cars should be Chinese has been largely ignored. Volvo is Chinese now.
And of course, Volvo is looking to export the cars. With the Volvo brand Geely is the first Chinese company that has a real chance to be a player on the world market.
“It is obvious that at some point manufacturers will export from China,” Jacoby told Bloomberg. “We, as a global premium brand with European heritage, have a very good opportunity to be owned by a Chinese enterprise and to utilize our manufacturing capacities here.”
Volvo Cars plans to invest as much as $11 billion worldwide over the next five years to successfully sell its cars to China and the world. In 10 years, Volvo wants to sell 800,000 cars. Not an unrealistic target.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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"Norma; My laptop and all electronics are from Taiwan, S Korea. I do not own an Apple anything, nor will I. Everything that is purchased for me personally or for the company is searched for origin. Not only company HQ, but actual fabrication." If you own a Taiwanese or Korean laptop, odds are it was made in one of the same Foxconn factories in mainland China that make Apple products. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn#Clients No one who owns or purchases modern electronics can avoid Chinese components. Fact of life. Deal with it.
Sam P, you're right; it may be impossible to totally avoid Chinese-made goods without living in a cave. But I don't see what is wrong with someone, for reasons of concience, attempting to minimize the money they send to a place that tramples on the human rights of its citizens and badly exploits the workers who make the products sent our way.