Chinese EVs Now Have Access To Volvo’s factories

Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson is offering sister brands Geely, Zeekr and Lynk & Co access to factories in Sweden, Belgium and Slovakia, Autonews reports.

For Volvo, which is struggling with declining volumes and still building a new factory, that could be much-needed revenue. Chinese manufacturers are fighting EU tariffs on electric car imports, which range from 10 to as much as 45 percent, and new restrictive measures are planned. By moving production to existing European factories, tariffs can be circumvented while avoiding the costs and time required to build new plants from scratch.

Giants such as Stellantis and Volkswagen are struggling with unused factory capacity, and leasing assembly lines to Chinese brands has become a way to save European jobs. On the other hand, handing over production capacities to the Chinese is also dangerous. Namely, Chinese manufacturers are increasingly dangerous competition, and this way, with much smaller investments, they will share factories with European manufacturers.

• Also See: Volvo Provides Europeans With Access To The Tesla Supercharger Network