The first Volvo excavator built in the new Volvo Construction Equipment factory in China left the production line recently and was delivered to the customer, ZheJiang YuZhong Construction Group, a company involved in the new Formula One racing track project in Shanghai. The excavator is the Volvo EC210BLC, one of the new B-series of Volvo excavators introduced in 2002.

As more and more construction projects emerge in China, the demand for excavators with diversified functions is growing rapidly. China has, over the last few years, become one of the largest markets for excavators, with sales of more than 17,000 units during 2002. The forecast is that the market will continue to grow.

To meet the growing demand for excavators, Volvo announced last year the establishment of a wholly owned company and production facility based on nearly 754,000 square feet of land in Shanghai's Pudong area.

For an investment of around $15 million, Volvo will have a production capacity of approximately 2,000 units per year. Initial production will focus on the recently launched 20-ton class B series crawler excavator developed at Volvo CE's global center for excavators in Korea.

Volvo CE has five branches and 12 dealers in China today. This distribution and service network will be expanded to eight branches and 20 dealers to cover the whole of China during 2003.