Zhejiang Geely Group's Sweden-based Volvo Car unit is planning a 4.58 billion yuan (HK$5.51 billion) investment on a second Chinese carmaking plant in the northeastern city of Daqing, according to a statement on a central government website.
Volvo, which the privately held Zhejiang Geely bought from Ford for US$1.5 billion last August, has been hinting for a while at building a plant in Daqing, an oil-producing town in Heilongjiang province.
But a project overview published this week on the website of the Ministry of Environmental Protection offers the most detailed picture yet of the scale of the enterprise.
Volvo Car China plans to build a facility with a capacity to make 80,000 cars per year. The carmaker will start trial production in 2013 on three Volvo models: the XC60 crossover sport-utility vehicle, a so-called '113K' sedan and an unnamed minivan, according to the ministry's statement. The environmental component of the investment would total 57.97 million yuan, it said.
'The Ministry of Environmental Protection of China is currently reviewing the environmental impact assessment for Volvo Car Corporation's Daqing factory project,' Volvo China said yesterday.
'Construction of the factory still needs relevant government approvals for commencement,' the company said.