Geely will begin producing luxury models from its wider brand portfolio at Volvo Cars factories in Europe from 2028, as the Chinese automaker pushes to localise more production and boost overseas sales.
Volvo’s European plants would play a key role in the group’s localisation strategy and would build premium vehicles for other Geely-owned brands, incoming Geely Auto chairman An Conghui announced. He did not single out any factory or model.
CarNewsChina reported that the most likely candidates are models from premium and high-end brands Zeekr and Lynk & Co, although Geely has not confirmed the details. Today, Volvo has vehicle plants in Sweden and Belgium, with a new factory in Slovakia scheduled to begin production in 2027.
The move comes as Geely has stepped up its European ambitions. The company is aiming for annual sales of 600,000 in Europe in two to three years and wants two-thirds of Geely Auto sales eventually to be outside China. Revenue grew 15% in the first half, and core profit rose 46%.
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Geely is using partners rather than building from scratch
The Volvo deal follows a similar agreement with Ford. In July, Geely and the US automaker agreed to build two Geely-branded electric SUVs at Ford’s plant in Valencia, Spain, starting with the EX5 in 2028, and jointly develop another model for Europe.
That’s part of a broader shift to Geely’s overseas approach. The company would prefer partnerships to building new manufacturing capacity overseas, which would allow it to grow more quickly while using existing European plants, founder Eric Li said.
Earlier this year, Volvo agreed to sell Lynk & Co models through its European dealer network, which is another sign that the group is squeezing more value from shared manufacturing, distribution and technology.
