Volvo and Geely to create a new JV named Aurobay

KUALA LUMPUR: Volvo plans to go fully electric by 2030 and one of the companies that will help the Swedish carmaker to achieve this goal is Aurobay. That’s a new joint venture formed by Volvo and its parent company Geely, which will be a global supplier of all their powertrain solutions, including the next-gen internal combustion engines, transmissions, and hybrid solutions. It will allow Volvo to focus fully on the development of electric premium cars.

Initially, the new venture will be jointly owned by Volvo and Geely, however, the exact share split is not yet revealed. The companies also did not spill the beans on the matter of the financial details of the agreement.

However, Volvo confirmed that it will transfer all assets in its wholly-owned subsidiary Powertrain Engineering Sweden to Aurobay in the coming months. These include a Sweden-based engine plant, one engine plant in China, and other relevant assets. The formation of the stand-alone company will help Volvo in focussing the development of EVs as it aims for 50 percent of its global sales to come from fully electric cars by 2025 while 50 percent front the hybrids, with powertrains supplied by the new entity. 

Last month also, Volvo announced a new JV with Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt. This new entity will manufacture more sustainable batteries for Volvo’s next-gen pure electric cars. The automaker recently unveiled a new all-electric Concept Recharge as a manifesto for its next-gen EVs in the form of a high-riding electric wagon featuring a sleek exterior design with a simplistic interior. It has also confirmed that the upcoming EVs will be fitted with an in-house operating system called VolvoCars.OS.

If we talk about Geely, Aurobay backed by a strong R&D team will be developing technologically advanced and efficient combustion engines and hybrid powertrains for its portfolio of brands. This will “create a strong base for substantial operational, industrial and financial synergies.”

Also read: Next-gen pure electric Volvo XC90 to come with LiDAR technology