Creating Something New

Fostering Sino-Swedish innovation

The China Europe Vehicle Technology Center (CEVT) is a Chinese-Swedish creation and brings international know-how to a very Swedish table. CEVT was founded in March 2013 with the slogan of Creating Something New. CEVT's key goal is to develop a new Compact Modular Architecture platform for the Geely-Volvo brands. This new architecture will allow Geely and Volvo to share common DNA while meeting the requirements of both brands. Geely, as a mass-market brand, and Volvo, as a luxury auto brand, combine innovation and leadership in safety.

Located in the heart of Sweden's automotive cluster in Lindholmen Science Park, the fledgling company calls Volvo Cars and Volvo Trucks among its neighbors, but other neighbors also include technology giants such as Ericsson, Semcon and over 330 other high tech-focused small to medium companies and also the world famous Chalmers University of Technology where tomorrows leading talent is raised.

CEVT was initially opened with just 10 engineers. By mid 2014 this number had grown to over 700 and by the end of the year it reached just under 1,000. Now CEVT has 1,100 people working on the next generation of platforms, engines and transmissions. Geely Auto regularly sends Chinese engineers to stay at CEVT on long-term visits to learn from their international peers for periods of three months to two years.

Mats Fagerhag, the CEO of CEVT, received the symbolic keys to Gothenburg in 2013 for his efforts in fostering Sino-Swedish innovation at CEVT and furthering the relationship between Geely and Volvo. Given the current global economic situation and the highly competitive nature within the automotive industry it is paramount that CEVT works as a bridge between China's Geely and Sweden's Volvo to further enhance global synergies between the two companies for the future success of both brands.

Fagerhag has laid out the mission of CEVT as being able to develop the most cost efficient, customer focused and technology oriented engineering center in the automotive center as well acting as a research outpost for Geely Auto on the European automotive market. Mats has built his team well. The majority of engineers may be locals from Sweden who joined after working for decades with Volvo or Saab and there is also a considerable number of German and French engineers who have moved to make Gothenburg their home, despite the constant gray skies and rainy weather. The team spirit of CEVT is based on collective collaboration, the time zone between Geely's R&D center in Hangzhou and Gothenburg is essentially perfect and allows for a "shift change" at 3pm every day, when Chinese engineers start to down tools for the day and Swedish engineers start to come online. Ten hours later the Chinese engineers begin to come online and the circle starts again allowing for maximum efficiency day in day out.

The projects that CEVT are expanding by the day, and with that the number of engineers required at CEVT, increases at a steady rate, which is good news for Sweden and good news for Geely. Although there is increased expenditure in R&D, Geely Auto is able to benefit from higher valued vehicles that put it on a par with global manufacturers both in China and international markets.

(China Daily European Weekly 05/01/2015 page25)