China is poised to replace the US as Volvo Cars largest market in 2014 with sales of at least 80,000 cars, up from 61,146 in 2013.
The Geely-owned carmaker also said that it expects the premium segment of the car market in China to grow by 20% this year.
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Volvo Cars underlined its commitment to China earlier this month by significantly expanding its manufacturing facility in Daqing, China. Daqing will make multiple models in Volvo’s product range, based on its Scalable Product Architecture (SPA), a modular vehicle technology. The first SPA Volvo to be made in Daqing will be an all-new premium Sedan.
Also this month Volvo Cars started production of its XC60 at its plant in Chengdu. The Volvo XC60 is the second model to be produced in Chengdu after the plant started production of the Volvo S60L long wheel base sedan in November 2013.
Adding the XC60 to the Chengdu production line also means that the plant will add 500 new manufacturing jobs, bringing the total headcount in the plant to around 2,650 employees. A new working time system will secure the required increase in output, the company said.
The XC60 is the best-selling Volvo model globally and in China.
Globally, XC60 sales have increased 20.4% to 98,309 cars in the first nine months of 2014, while sales in China are up 32.3% to 24,940 cars over the same period. Earlier this year, the XC60 passed the 500,000 cars sold mark since it was launched in 2008.
At the 2014 Guangzhou Motor Show, Volvo Cars showed its new Volvo XC90 and said that “together with the United States, China will be the main market for what is the first Volvo fully developed under the company’s Chinese ownership”.
