Volvo Cars and Geely join forces on electrification and carsharing and create Lynk & Co

Volvo Cars and Geely Holding have announced the strengthening of the ties that bind them, while also announcing the creation of two new joint ventures, through which they will improve their technology transfers, their development, and boost the creation of new flexible platforms for electric vehicles and shared car services.

The new agreements reached between the Swedish manufacturer and the Japanese consortium formalise the strategic priorities, management teams and common synergies within the group. Volvo and Geely will create two new companies to share both existing and future technology and foster economies of scale between them that will allow them to develop next-generation electrified vehicle technology more quickly for the group’s brands.

GV Automobile Technology (Ningbo) Co. Ltd will be the group’s new technology company. It will be 50/50 owned by Volvo Cars and Geely Holding, and will be headquartered in China with a subsidiary in Gothenburg (Sweden). Former Volvo Cars vice president and current CEO of Volvo Cars Asia Pacific, Lars Danielson, will be its chairman, and his main mission will be to develop new synergies that deliver benefits for Volvo Cars, Geely Auto and Lynk & Co.

This latter company is also newly created and likewise jointly owned by Volvo and Geely. Cong Hui, chairman and CEO of Geely Auto, will be chairman of the Board of Directors, and Hakan Samuelsson, president and CEO of Volvo Cars, will be its Managing Director.

“These joint ventures will create significant value for our automotive brands. Our goal is to offer global economies of scale by facilitating closer cooperation between our brands in shared vehicle architectures, propulsion development and electrification, while at the same time offering synergies that will allow Lynk & Co to reach its full potential,” said Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holding.

Since they agreed to join forces in 2010, Volvo Cars and Geely have shared technology, especially with regard to the CMA compact modular architecture, which is already being used by the Swedish brand to develop its new 40 Series, which we will see at the next Frankfurt motor show. This same platform will also be used by Lynk & Co to develop its shared mobility and electric vehicle offering.