China rolls off luxury Volvo sedans for US export

CHENGDU - Volvo's manufacturing plant in Southwest China's Chengdu city on Friday completed its first luxury sedan made for the US market.

This will be China's first export of luxury sedans to the US.

The plant plans to produce and export 2,000 to 3,000 units of the S60 Inscription model this year, which is an elongated version of Volvo's best-selling S60 L model in China. The annual export is expected to reach 5,000 units in 2016.

S60 L has sold well in the China market after being put on sale in 2013. Its monthly sales topped 2,000 units this year.

With an extra 3.4 inches of rear legroom, the S60 Inscription also adopts interior decorations better catering to American customers. But the quality is no different than that of the S60 L model sold in China.

Volvo, formerly owned by Ford Motor Co, was taken over in August 2010 by privately owned Chinese automaker Geely Holding Group. Since then, Volvo has set up two car plants in Daqing and Chengdu, an engine plant in Zhangjiakou and a research and development center in Shanghai.

The Chengdu plant is the first manufacturing plant of Volvo in China and its only complete plant of the company outside Europe.