Can Lynk & Co.'s plan to build an assembly plant in the U.S. become China's "Volkswagen"?

According to foreign media reports, Lynk & Co, a high-end brand under Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, is considering investing in an assembly plant in North America, and the site of the plant may be located in Ridgeville, South Carolina. When Lynk & Co was first announced, it also stated that Lynk & Co's positioning is higher than traditional Chinese brands, and in the future it will benchmark Volkswagen brands and go global. Now building a factory in the United States can be regarded as a promise.

Since Lynk & Co is going global, its supply chain system must be very different from that of traditional car companies. Lynk & Co plans to adopt a production-to-order model, where customers can select configurations online and then order vehicles directly from the factory. This small-scale, highly flexible sales strategy places extremely high demands on the supply base operation model. Factories need to adopt new parts production methods and delivery cycles, and also have certain requirements for communication and collaboration between factories and local warehousing facilities.

From the perspective of company attributes, Lynk & Co is a joint venture automobile company because Volvo has invested in it. However, from the perspective of brand attributes and ownership, Lynk & Co has always been a Chinese automobile brand. The establishment of a factory in the United States is the first step for Lynk & Co to go global. Whether it can become the "Volkswagen" of China in the future and replicate the legend of the Volkswagen brand in the global market, we will have to wait and see.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.