Volvo Expands Relationship with Geely and Lynk

Volvo Car Corp. is forming a 50:50 joint venture with owner Zhejiang Geely Holding Group to better share technology and improve synergies between the companies.

In addition, Volvo is taking a “significant” minority share of Geely’s Lynk & Co. sub-brand, which will be owned by Geely Holding, Geely Auto and Volvo Cars. Geely Holding will retain a controlling 50% stake in Lynk, while the other half will be split between Geely Automobile and Volvo. The exact ownership levels haven’t been finalized.

The two structural moves aim to facilitate resource and technology sharing among the companies. The new Volvo-Geely  venture will be based in China and operate a subsidiary in Gothenburg, Sweden. The three companies will be able to license each other’s technologies, but they will retain the intellectual property rights for what they develop on their own.

Future modular vehicle architectures and other technology will be shared and developed on cost-sharing agreements. The collaboration is expected to be expanded to electrified vehicle components such as battery cells, electric motors and charging systems in coming years. The partners also will cooperate more on component sourcing to improve purchasing economies of scale.

Geely and Volvo co-developed the new compact modular architecture that will carry Volvo’s new 40 series cars and Lynk’s upcoming 01 crossover and 03 sedan. Moving forward, Geely and Lynk will gain access to Volvo's scalable product architecture, which underpins the XC90 large SUV and second-generation XC60 midsize crossover.

Lynk also will tap into Volvo's vehicle dealer network with plans to expand sales to Europe and U.S. by the end of the decade.