Volvo Readying Chinese Made S60L For North America

by Derek Kreindler

September 1st, 2014 11:41 AM

volvo readying chinese made s60l for north america

Canada may have already received its first mass-produced Chinese car in the form of the outgoing Honda Fit. Now, it’s America’s turn.

According to Automotive News, Volvo will introduced the Chinese-made S60L, a long-wheelbase version of the S60, sometime in 2015. The S60L will replace the slow-selling S80. The main change will be a 3.2 inch extension to the S60’s wheelbase. Like the S80, the car will be similarly low volume, though it will function as a gauge of the overall quality and level of acceptance that consumers will have for Chinese cars.

#China #ChineseCars #Volvo #VolvoS60 #VolvoS60l

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6 of 39 comments

Threeer on Sep 02, 2014

Never in my garage, but sadly...most people buying this will care not a whiff where it is made. As most have already alluded to, place of manufacture is largely irrelevant. Not that Volvo was ever American made to begin with...heck I am having issues considering a new Mustang with the Chinese-made transmission. Prefer a manual, but do my best to limit how much Chinese goods enter my household. It is a personal choice, so to each his own, I suppose...

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Sceptic on Sep 02, 2014

I have no problem with Volvo's from China as long as the country of assembly and sources of parts are clearly indicated per federal standard. And the product is priced accordingly. If Swedish production vehicle was $40K then this new Chinese model should sell for $20K. It worked for Walmart et al, and it will work for the auto industry. In about 10 years the way things are going we should expect a flood of cheap cars from Asia Pacific(China, Thailand etc)

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- Hreardon on Sep 02, 2014
  
  On the pricing angle, Sceptic: not. gonna. happen. Volvo is pushing to move upmarket and there's no way in hell they'll destroy that part of the brand equation by repricing their cars that way. Their brand image would be destroyed. Of course, one could successfully argue that they don't really HAVE a brand image any longer, so...there's that. I'm not convinced that we're going to see a 'flood of cheap cars' that has been speculated upon for years. I think we'll continue to see what we've seen for the last 20 years: the former "cheap" brands move upmarket (eg: Honda, Acura, Nissan) and up-and-comers taking their place at the lower end (eg: Kia, Hyundai). The question is whether the market can support so many competitors. My gut tells me that the US market is going to max out at around 17-18mm units per year which means lots of people feeding at the same trough. I also think that China is going to go through some massive changes over the next 10 years that are going to lessen their competitive manufacturing advantage. Brands mean something and building brands takes a lot of time and capital. The Chinese domestic auto industry is a trainwreck because they haven't learned this yet. The Volvo purchase by the Chinese is in many ways an attempt to get a jumpstart on this. It very well may succeed, but that success is anything but assured.
  
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- Sceptic on Sep 03, 2014
  
  @hreardon I agree with everything you say. Especially considering that in the mind of American consumer Volvo = Swedish. Let's see how well this latest move will work for them.
  
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Paul W on Sep 03, 2014

Isn't/wasn't Volvo's biggest manufacturing plant i Belgium anyway?

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Stumpaster on Sep 03, 2014

Damn, now they have to change all the badges to Vorvo.

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