Geely Holding Group and its Volvo Cars unit are thinking about making Lynk & Co branded automobiles at Volvo plants in Belgium and the United States state of South Carolina, a senior Lynk & Co official informed Reuters.
The Lynk & Co brand is jointly owned by Geely and Volvo Cars, and sales of the automobiles started on Tuesday in China. Sales are arranged for 2019 in Europe and 2020 in the United States.
The beginning of Lynk & Co sales caps a decade of preparation by Geely to enhance its prospects in a local marketplace dominated by worldwide automakers, and expand abroad. To that end, Geely’s founder and chairman, Li Shufu, bought Volvo Cars in 2010, giving it access to Volvo’s engineering knowledge.
The first model is the 01 compact sport-utility vehicle (SUV) with a beginning price of 158,800 yuan ($24,054). It is made on the exact same assembly line as Volvo Car’s XC40 crossover SUV at a new Volvo-operated plant located in Taizhou on China’s east coast.
Lynk & Co cars will also be constructed at a plant in Zhangjiakou in China’s north-east, starting in next year.
The automakers are thinking about constructing Lynk & Co vehicles at Volvo Car factories in Europe and the United States, Lynk & Co Senior Vice President Alain Visser stated.
“We have constantly stated our manufacturing footprint will be worldwide, and it will. It’s obvious that we are speaking to Volvo to see whether there are chances within the small network of Volvo plants” to produce Lynk & Co automobiles,” he stated.
Volvo Cars’ factory in Gent, Belgium, is “an alternative we are looking at,” as is a Volvo plant under construction in Charleston in South Carolina, Visser stated.
“A decision hasn’t been made for those plants. However we are checking out,” he stated.
Lynk & Co sales started in China with preparation for only a limited network of franchise showrooms in city centers and bigger dealerships in suburbs. The objective is to sell more vehicles online.
