Geely and Volvo Cars will jointly build a research and development centre in Gothenburg in one of the biggest co-operations so far between the Swedish carmaker and its Chinese owner.

The R&D centre, which will employ 200 people of which more than half will be Chinese, will develop a shared platform and parts for compact cars for both Volvo and Geely, ending the Swedish group’s search for a partner in the so-called C-segment of small vehicles that includes the Audi A3 and Mercedes A-Class.

“Geely will continue to improve its product quality in the years to come and can learn from Volvo Cars. However, the sharing of knowledge and technology has to be done without jeopardising brand integrity and individual product development,” said Li Shufu, chairman and majority owner of Geely, the Chinese carmaker.