Volvo Trucks expects to start production of the new heavy-duty Volvo FH, Volvo FM and Volvo FMX trucks in Taiyuan for local customers in China late next year. Volvo Trucks has agreed to acquire a subsidiary of China’s Jiangling Motors Co to produce trucks for the local market starting late next year. JMC Heavy Duty Vehicle Co, which includes a manufacturing site in Taiyuan, capital of North China’s Shanxi province, will be purchased for $120.4 million (780 million yuan), said the Swedish truck maker.
Source: China Daily Read The Article
PSR Analysis: JMC has done a lot of research on hydrogen fuel and has made good business progress. JMC plans to accelerate the development of new energy products such as light trucks, pickup trucks and light passenger vehicles, and to manufacture other cleaner products. It will not launch new energy heavy truck products.
For Volvo Trucks, the successful acquisition of Jiangling Heavy Truck will fully start its localization in China. By acquiring Jiangling Heavy Truck, which is 100% controlled by Jiangling Automobile, Volvo Truck will establish a wholly owned Volvo Truck production base in China to better serve China, the world’s largest truck market.
The establishment of the local production base indicates that Volvo truck has taken an important step towards building a regional value chain in China. This value chain includes procurement, manufacturing, product development, sales and services.
From the perspective of product structure, with the continuous acceleration of the marketization process of new energy heavy truck, Volvo Truck has launched a full range of pure electric trucks in many markets around the world, and has accumulated rich market experience, which provides strong support for its follow-up in the new energy heavy truck market.
In 2020, the sales volume of Volvo trucks in China hit a growth rate of more than 60%, which is growth record that other markets in the world do not have. The market share of Volvo trailer in the main market has been increasing and has reached more than 50%, but the market share of Volvo trailer in the Chinese market is less than 5%. All these factors have accelerated the progress of Volvo’s settlement in China. PSR
Jack Hao is Senior Research Manager – China, for Power Systems Research
