Volvo to begin output at Chengdu plant

Volvo Car Corp will start building vehicles at its new plant in the Southwest China city of Chengdu in the second half of this year, according to Chinese media.

The Chengdu plant is in final preparations and it will start production "soon," reported Beijing News, a Chinese daily newspaper, quoting Volvo Chairman Li Shufu at a business forum last week in Chengdu.

The factory's initial prototypes have already rolled off the production line and are now undergoing crash tests and road tests, the newspaper reported, citing Li.

Initially the plant will produce up to 125,000 vehicles a year and its first product will be the stretched Volvo S60.

Volvo's second plant in China, currently under construction in the northeast China city of Daqing, will start production towards the end of 2014, according to the newspaper.

Volvo was acquired by private Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co from Ford Motor Co in 2010. The Swedish brand aims to sell 200,000 vehicles a year in China by 2020.

In 2012, its sales in China were only 44,052 units, according to LMC Automotive.