Is Volvo Owned by China? (Trucks, Cars Ownership + More)

Have you ever asked yourself who owns and makes Volvo Models or is Volvo owned by china? Well, you are at the perfect place to find the answer to such a question.

Volvo is known as a Swedish car company and was started in Sweden in 1927. But, if you’ve heard rumors circulating that Volvo isn’t actually owned by a Swedish company anymore, you may be wondering who owns them.

Many believe China owns Volvo but is this accurate?

Volvo is owned by the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, who is a company based in China. They own 15 other vehicle brands but have remained committed to ensuring each stays true to their own manufacturing standards.

In this article, we will discuss the history of Volvo, how they came to be acquired by the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, and some history about the Holding Group.

Table of Contents

What Is The History Of Volvo?

Although Volvo is now owned by a Chinese company, it did actually originate in Sweden. The very first Volvo car, a ÖV4, was made on April 14, 1927 in Gothenburg, Sweden. The inspiration behind the company was to make cars that were safer for Swedish roads.

The next car produced by Volvo was the PV 444, affectionately called “The Little Volvo.” This was the car that catapulted Volvo into an international car company. This was followed by the Volvo Duet in 1953.

By 1955 Volvo began exporting their cars to the United States. In only two years they were the second-biggest import brand in California, and by 1974 the United States became the biggest market for Volvo.

Volvo actually invented the three point safety belt that all of us use today, and as a testament to their commitment to safety, they waived their rights to a patent and allowed all car companies to use the same design, which has saved over a million lives.

Volvo was even chosen by the United States in 1976 as the benchmark of safety standards for all new cars after the government used Volvo cars for crash testing.

When Did Volvo First Start Working From China?

All of Volvo’s manufacturing plants were in Sweden until 2013, when they opened their first plant in Chengdu, China.

This plant was charged with manufacturing the Volvo S60L and XC60 at first, although they soon expanded to producing more models.

The Zhejiang Geely Holding Group took control of Volvo in 2010, only seven years after the first plant opened in China.

Although previously Volvo’s were made by Ford for a brief period of time, once the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group took control, they started manufacturing all Volvo cars.

What Is The Zhejiang Geely Holding Group?

The Zhejiang Geely Holding Group began in 1986 by manufacturing refrigerators and refrigerator parts, moved to construction and decorative materials, and then into manufacturing motorcycles. By 1997 they had officially started manufacturing cars and secured their place in the automotive industry.

Currently, the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group works primarily in electric mobility, energy services, and technology within the automotive industry, smart mobility industry, green technology industry, and digital technology industry. They own many different brands, including:

Geely Auto,
Lynk & Co,
Zeekr,
Volvo Cars,
Polestar,
Lotus,
London Electric Vehicle Company,
Farizon Auto,
CAOCAO Mobility, and more.

All of their products, including the Volvo brand, have plans to go start embracing electrification.

They operate manufacturing facilities in China, US, UK, Sweden, Belgium, Belarus, and Malaysia, as well as design centers in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Gothenburg, Frankfurt, Coventry, and California.

The Group has over 26,000 patents for their products and owns all of their own intellectual property for the core technology used in their products.

Does The Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Own All Of Volvo?

Volvo created their car and truck lines separately. Currently, the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group owns the entire car production of Volvo, however, they do not yet own the truck side of the company.

But, they do hold an 8.2% stake in the truck lineup and plan to fully own it soon. Volvo doesn’t include a set date for when this will happen on their website, but they do infer it will happen in the near future.

However, as we will discuss later in this article, there are rumors that Volvo actually plans to buy back their company from the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group soon, and if this happens, the future of the Volvo truck market would be different.

Are Volvo Vehicles The Same Quality As Before?

Although sometimes when we see the “Made in China” label we don’t attribute a product to be made of top quality, this is not true for products manufactured by the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.

The Group is committed to ensuring the brand stays true to the original vision of the founder. They still emphasize the safety of Volvo cars and manufacture them to be the best quality.

Volvo earned that title of being the benchmark of safety for a reason, and the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group has continued to manufacture their cars the same way.

They also have made the commitment with Volvo to embrace electric cars. This move was motivated by the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015.

The goal of the agreement was to reduce global warming to only 1.5 degrees Celsius above where it was prior to the industrial revolution.

Volvo has a few set goals, they are aiming for half of their global sales to be fully electric cars and the other half to be hybrid cars by 2025. They also aim to be a climate-neutral company by 2040.

The Zhejiang Geely Holding Group is fully embracing these goals and sets similar ones for their other brands.

Does Volvo Plan To Own Their Company Again?

This is a tricky question and has not been confirmed by Volvo or the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. However, there are reports from websites such as Reuters, that Volvo plans to buy out Zhejiang Geely Holding Group’s stake in their company.

This would be the first step for many to acquire control of their manufacturing plants and sales operations again.

If Volvo manages to do this they would be the first non-Chinese auto company of their size to have full control of their operations in China. This deal is reportedly set to take place in two parts spread over two years.

So, if all goes according to plan, it is possible that Volvo would own their Chinese plants and sales operations as soon as 2024.

Conclusion

Volvo is technically owned by China, but more specifically it is owned by a Chinese-based company under the name of the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.

This is a company that owns a variety of different car manufacturers, including Volvo.

It makes sense that China has a large hand in the manufacturing of Volvo cars when you consider that around 25% of Volvo’s total sales occur in China, making them the largest market.

Although A Volvo is owned by a Chinese company, the company is committed to upholding the original Swedish ideals that Volvo was established to fulfill. Most importantly this includes a commitment towards safety and the environment.

Although there are reports that Volvo plans to buy out the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group and obtain full control of their manufacturing and sales again, this has not been directly confirmed by Volvo or the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.

This is an interesting topic to continue to follow over the next few years as the reported deal pans out.

References

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/volvo-cars-buy-parent-geely-holdings-stake-china-jvs-2021-07-21/