Volvo Car Corp., the Swedish automaker owned by Chinese manufacturer Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., is seeking a partner to build vehicles in North America. Click below to read the rest of the story.

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“In the medium term, five to six years, we need to find a proper solution in North America,” Volvo CEO Stefan Jacoby said in an interview today. “Building a plant ourselves is maybe more unlikely. I’m looking for a partner that could help us utilize a North American plant.”

The Gothenburg, Sweden-based carmaker is talking to a “couple” manufacturers, Jacoby said, declining to name the potential partners.

Cooperation would ideally be with any carmaker that Volvo agrees to work with on sharing development costs on smaller cars, Jacoby said in the interview at the Automotive News Europe World Congress conference in Monaco.

Volvo has been considering an assembly plant in North America to hedge against its heavy dependence on the euro. In the past, Jacoby has said the automaker would consider a partner for the project, ideally located in the United States or Mexico.

Volvo, which Zhejiang Geely bought from Ford Motor Co. in August 2010 for $1.8 billion, has a target of almost doubling sales to 800,000 cars and sport-utility vehicles by 2020 from 449,255 deliveries in 2011.

It plans to invest about $11 billion over the next several years, including construction of two car factories and an engine plant in China. Volvo is “open to everybody” as a partner, including Fiat SpA, Jacoby said.

The Turin, Italy-based carmaker is already active in the U.S. through the takeover of Chrysler Group LLC that’s part of Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne’s growth strategy. “Fiat is obviously one of the alternatives,” Jacoby said. “If you speak to Marchionne, just tell him to call me.”

AN