Volvo-Dongfeng joint venture will begin operation in early 2014

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai April 9) - Volvo Group's CEO Olof Persson announced at the Boao Forum for Asia's Opening Up and Integration of the Automobile Industry roundtable discussion that the manufacturer's upcoming joint venture with Dongfeng Motor is expected to begin operation early next year, China Business News reported today. Mr. Persson added that the two manufacturers will work together to jointly develop new products.

Dongfeng Motor and Swedish commercial vehicle maker AB Volvo agreed to establish a strategic joint venture partnership this January. The JV will focus on manufacturing Dongfeng brand commercial vehicles powered by Volvo technology for sale in both China and foreign markets. Unlike most other Sino-foreign JVs, Dongfeng will possess a 55 percent majority share in the new JV, while Volvo will own the remaining 45 percent. The latter will invest 5.6 billion yuan ($891.68m) in the JV. Dongfeng, for its part, will reportedly use the assets it will be acquiring back from Nissan following the dissolution of their previous commercial vehicle JV.

According to Mr. Persson, the proposal for the new JV still needs to be approved by relevant government bodies in China and Europe. R&D, production and sales work for the new JV will be based on programs currently undertaken by Dongfeng's commercial vehicle division. Upon receiving government approval, the two parties will begin jointly working on pricing and product strategies.