Volvo Boss: Made in China Volvos Will Be Exported to the U.S. "Fairly Quickly,"
Hakan Samuelsson, CEO of Volvo Car Corp. told the Automotive News World Congress that Chinese built Volvos will be exported “fairly quickly” to the U.S. market. Samuelsson wouldn’t say exactly when but he did say that because of Volvo’s Chinese ownership the company is in a unique position to use China as an export base. Zhejiang Geely Holding Group purchased Volvo from Ford Motor Co. in 2010.
“It will happen fairly quickly in the Volvo group, but it has to be a process that you discuss with your dealers and sales group,” Samuelsson told Automotive News. “We are the only ones who can think of using the factories for export, which we will be doing.”
Pointing to smartphones as an example of sophisticated consumer products that come from Chinese factories, Samuelsson said he doesn’t expect consumers to react negatively to the idea of a Volvo produced in China.
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I don´t think that a Volvo "made in china" will be any different than other Volvos. Quality is average either way. It is certainly better than some thing "made in usa".
I doubt that many of the posters here have been to China and been driven around in a locally built Buick. They are fine cars and I bet they would sell like sushi in the U.S. If GM were even more stupid than they are. The detractors probably think that their Honda was built in Japan or their BMW was built in Germany, both of which are unlikely. And for the player suggesting that shipping costs will be a killer, check out your atlas for the whereabouts of Seoul or Rayong.
My opinion of Chinese products come from a bit of a silly source, desk lamps. I've collected several older models that use small low wattage bulbs (think reverse lights on a car). I have the following: 1960's Tensor lamp, made in America, still works like a dream but gets warm over time. 1970's European made "Eyeball" Tensor, works like a dream, I used it daily for some time. Late 1970's Hong Kong Tensor knock-off, works fine but I had to take it apart to tighten a few components, luckily the exposed bulky screws made this a cinch. I use it daily. If Volvo found a way to make its cars easily serviced I wouldn't mind if they're made in China, so long as they're priced reasonably and, like the 240, can be fixed easily. If they get this down they'll made good fleet cars too.
As evidenced in the comments here, most Americans won't give three figs about sending more money to China and won't even be vageuely aware that their Volvo is made in China. I guess $300 billion in negative trade with them alone last year makes not a whiff of difference. It aggrevates me that Americans have more or less given up on their own country when it comes to maintaining an industrial/manufacturing base, but I guess people have the freedom to make their own choices. NIMD...