Volvo Cars, controlled by China’s Geely Automobile Holdings, inaugurated its new CNY420m (US$66m) R&D in Shanghai this week. The Volvo Car (China) R&D Centre will develop a new Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) to be shared by the next generation Volvo 40 and a forthcoming Geely compact model. It will be the first platform architecture to be shared by the two brands.

Peter Mertens, head of Volvo’s R&D, confirmed that Volvo’s leading edge technologies are being pooled into the new Shanghai facility. Chinese market requirements are being taken into account in the development of the new CMA which will be powered by the 1.3-litre and 1.5-litre Drive-E engine family.

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