Volvo Sells 2,000 Buses In China

SHANGHAI, Dec 23, 2002; Reuters reports that Sweden's Volvo has sold around 2,000 buses to China's Dazhong Transportation (Group) Co for 1.6 billion yuan ($193 million), an official at Volvo's joint venture said on Monday.

The deal is Volvo's biggest ever city bus deal, a spokesman for the Swedish firm's 50-percent-owned Shanghai Sunwin Bus Corp told Reuters.

The first 20 buses were delivered to Dazhong after it and Sunwin signed the deal on Saturday, he said. Sunwin is 50-percent-owned by China's third largest auto firm, Shanghai Automotive Industry (Group) Corp.

"The average price of each vehicle was around 800,000 yuan," the Sunwin spokesman said.

"Our buses can last 12 years while other buses can only run four to five years," he added.

Dazhong is the second largest public transportation company in Shanghai, China's richest city and commercial hub.

Volvo formed Sunwin in Shanghai in September 2000 to make buses for China, one of the world's fastest growing markets.

The venture launched sales in October 2001 and has an annual production capacity of 2,500 buses for use within a city and 500 larger buses for longer distances.

The Sunwin spokesman said the firm was planning to expand across the country.

"We are also in talks with bus operators in Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu, and would like to expand our market throughout China," he said.

Sunwin got an order for 1,000 Volvo buses from transport firm Shanghai Bashi Industrial Co <600741.SS> in August and Shanghai already has about 500 Volvo buses, he added.