Volvo: no sale of Powertrain, Penta to China FAW

Swedish vehicle group Volvo AB does not plan to sell Volvo Powertrain or Volvo Penta to Chinese carmaker FAW Group, Volvo's spokesman Marten Wikforss told Swedish newswire Nyhetsbyran Direkt August 21.

On August 20, Beijing Times, citing knowledgeable sources, reported that FAW had visited the headquarters of the Volvo Penta unit in Sweden to negotiate about purchasing Volvo's truck engine business.

FAW's spokesman Gao Yuan and Jiang Lan, vice president of Volvo (China) Investment Co., have both denied any knowledge of such deal, according to the Chinese newspaper.

"We have a small joint venture with FAW in China, where Volvo Penta produces engines in limited volumes," Wikforss said, denying that there were any talks about a potential sale of Volvo Penta or Volvo Powertrain. The "small" venture is a diesel engine plant in Wuxi, Jiangsu province.

FAW also signed contract with China National Heavy Truck Corp. and Volvo in 2004 to build a $200 million plant to produce 50,000 engines a year by 2010, though that deal was scrapped two years later.

Volvo Penta is a world-leading supplier of engines and complete power systems for marine and industrial applications. It has wholly owned assembling factory in Sweden, the US, and a final assembling factory in China's Wuxi.