Volvo Cars received approval to begin manufacturing at a second car assembly plant and an engine plant in China.

The automaker is banking on strong sales of locally-produced Volvos in China, the world’s biggest car market, to help it reach ambitious sales targets and to secure its future in the highly competitive automotive industry.

The company was granted a manufacturing license for its Chengdu plant in June but was still waiting for approval from the Chinese government for a vehicle assembly plant in Daqing and an engine plant in Zhangjiakou.

Volvo said the Chengdu plant will begin series production in the fourth quarter. It said the Daqing factory is under construction and will be fully operational next year. The engine plant in Zhangjiakou would begin operating in the autumn and will supply both Chengdu and Daqing.

Volvo said the plants in Daqing and Zhangjiakou will be operated in the form of two joint venture companies, in which Volvo Cars initially will hold 30 per cent. The remaining part will be held by companies within Geely Holding Group.

The Chengdu plant will be operated under an extension of a production license held by a Geely Holding company.

“The plants in China will be operated in full accordance with Volvo Cars manufacturing standards and procedures, equal to those of the company’s European plants,” Volvo said in a statement.

Volvo, which was bought from Ford Motor by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group for $1.8 billion in 2010, aims for rapid growth in China to underpin a global sales target of 800,000 cars by 2020.

Volvo expects to sell 200,000 cars in China by 2018 compared with 42,000 last year.