Chinese automotive manufacturing company, Geely Automotive Holdings, says that it plans to start exporting cars developed with Volvo to the US in 2016.
The move comes a full ten years after the company’s founder, Li Shufu set the goal after the Detroit auto show in 2006.
In 2008, Geely approached Ford regarding a takeover of Volvo cars. By 2010, it had bought the Swedish brand, which does continue to operate independent of its owners.
Shufu had originally intended to retain a distance between the two companies for fear of diminishing the Swedish automaker’s image with a Chinese brand name. Now, however, as Geely fights to become China’s largest vehicle exporter, the company appears to have deemed it beneficial to merge the separate groups’ interests.
Last year, Geely saw itself as struggling somewhat after its sales abroad were bettered by Cherry Automobile’s units, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Over the past months, Geely has reported an increase of 80,000 units – from previous figures of 100,800 vehicles sold abroad to 180,000 in overseas shipments.
