In China, Escaping Pollution From Inside a Car Automakers around the world have long been under heavy pressure to reduce tailpipe pollution, starting in the United States in the 1960s. But in China, the issue is cleaning up the already filthy outdoor air before it gets into the cars. Li Shufu, the chairman of Geely Auto and its affiliate, Volvo Car, drew a ripple of laughter on Friday afternoon at the Global Automotive Forum in Wuhan when he described the air filtering in the ventilation systems of Volvo cars as a selling point in China. Volvo wants its customers "to feel like they are in Beijing when they open the doors and like they are in northern Europe when they close the doors," Mr. Li said. Many car models have filters for the ventilation systems. Volvo's carbon filter systems are especially effective, Mr. Li said, removing more than 95 percent of the fine particles in the air before circulating it inside the car. Mr. Li's personal company, Geely Holding Group, owns a controlling stake in Geely Auto, a large, publicly traded Chinese automaker. His holding company, which also invests extensively in real estate, separately owns Volvo Cars, which he acquired for $1.8 billion from Ford in 2010. Volvo is much larger than Geely Auto. Mr. Li mentioned that questions have been raised in China about whether Volvo can continue to invest very heavily in research and development given its modest profits. But he said that Volvo's profits were modest only because of its heavy investments, and said that the investments were within budget.