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© Volvo Cars
Electronics Production |

Volvo expands production with first US factory - creating 4'000 jobs

The car maker is pushing its global expansion with the inauguration of its first US manufacturing plant, in Charleston, South Carolina. With this venture, Volvo is now truly a global car manufacturer with plants in all three major sales regions.

The establishment of a production facility in South Carolina follows Volvo Cars’ global manufacturing strategy, ‘Build where you sell.’ The company’s first US facility complements its two manufacturing plants and an engine plant in Europe, three car factories and an engine plant in China, and assembly plants in India and Malaysia. The Charleston plant starts production of the new Volvo S60 premium mid-size sports sedan, based on the company’s Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) platform, in the fall of 2018. From 2021, the factory will also build the next generation of the Volvo XC90 large premium SUV. Cars built at the plant are destined both for the domestic US market and international export, according to a press release. “The Charleston plant establishes the US as our third home market,” says Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars, in the release. “The sedan segment and the SPA platform’s proven ability to boost profitability offer significant growth opportunities for Volvo Cars in the US and globally.” Volvo Cars is investing around USD 1.1 billion in its US manufacturing operations and will create around 4'000 new jobs at the Charleston site over the coming years. By the end of this year, the company says that it will employ about 1'500 staff. “The opening of our first American factory is a very big deal,” said Anders Gustafsson, president and CEO of Volvo Car USA. “Our US business is developing well, our cars have won prestigious awards, and the new South Carolina facility will be a big asset to both Volvo Cars and the community.” The new Charleston facility includes an office building for up to 300 staff from R&D, purchasing, quality and sales. The plant can produce 150'000 cars per year at full capacity. The site occupies 1'600 acres and the building space covers 2.3 million square feet. Construction on the facility broke ground in 2015. The company will build plug-in hybrid cars at all of its car plants globally. In 2017 Volvo announced its strategy that from 2019 all new models will be electrified.

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March 15 2024 2:25 pm V22.4.5-2
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