The chairman of Geely, the Chinese company acquiring Volvo Cars will also lead the Swedish firm, the two groups said on Thursday.

"We have made significant progress in assembling the team that will develop Volvo Cars under Geely's ownership. Today's board appointments underline my personal commitment to this famous company," Geely chairman Li Shufu said in a statement.

Geely also named Hans-Olov Olsson as vice chairman, who served previously as president and chief executive of the Swedish car maker.

Further management and board appointments, including a new chief executive and chief financial officer, will be announced prior to completion of the takeover, the statement added.

Geely acquired loss-making Volvo Cars in March from US auto giant Ford, paying 2.7 billion dollars (2.1 billion euros) in all -- a price of 1.8 billion dollars plus 900 million dollars in working capital to improve the brand.

The European Union's competition watchdog last week cleared the takeover.

Geely has said it plans to expand Volvo's presence in China, now the world's largest car market.

Geely has become one of China's biggest private car makers since launching its auto manufacturing business in 1997. It has annual production capacity of 300,000 cars but has sold fewer than 200,000 abroad since 1997.

earlier related report
Fresh strike hits Honda's parts plant in China
Tokyo (AFP) July 15, 2010 - Honda Motor said Thursday a fresh strike had hit an auto parts supplier in southern China for the Japanese carmaker, the latest in a series of walkouts by Chinese labourers over pay.

The strike broke out on Monday at a Chinese unit of Atsumitec Co. in the city of Foshan, which supplies shift levers to Honda's assembly plant in China, a Honda spokeswoman said.

"We have heard that the strike has yet to be called off but it has not affected our main assembly line," the spokeswoman said, adding that further details were not available.

Honda is the largest shareholder of Atsumitec, controlling 48 percent of the Shizuoka-based company, she said.

Immediate comments from Atsumitec were not available. According to its website, the Chinese plant was launched in July 2008, with capital of six million dollars.

Honda, Japan's number two automaker, said Monday its sales had fallen 2.7 percent year-on-year in June after its China operations were crippled in recent weeks by work stoppages.

The Japanese auto giant was one of several foreign companies hit by industrial action in China over the past two months as increasingly frustrated workers expressed their discontent at low pay and poor conditions.