So, in 2013, Geely and Volvo together established the China Europe Vehicle Technology Center, or CEVT for short, in the heart of Volvo’s home city of Gothenburg. The goal was to produce a shared platform that could be used by Volvo, Geely and also by two new brands that would leverage the shared expertise – the electric performance brand Polestar and the youthful Lynk & Co.
The new R&D center, led by industry veteran Mats Fagerhag, operated very differently to Volvo’s own development hub. Here ‘Geely speed’ met Volvo patience to create an almost start-up environment. Fagerhag equated the differences in approach to preparing for a journey. In Sweden the planning is done before setting off whereas in China, it’s done on the move. “They jump into the car and start driving immediately,” he said. “This pace was something we had to get used to.”
It paid off. The first iteration of the Compact Modular Architecture, or CMA, was completed in just three years.
吉利路桥工厂总装线
CMA基础模块架构现在支撑着紧凑型SUV沃尔沃XC40,去年该车型在沃尔沃全球销量排行榜上跃居第二,仅次于XC60。它也用于Lynk & Co 多种车型(03以及以上)和新近推出的极星2。此外,它应用于于吉利Coupe SUV星越和概念车Preface,Preface将是吉利首款高端运动型轿车。