Volvo's new S60 debuted at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit and is currently imported from China.
Volvo Cars’ plans to open a new factory in South Carolina is on schedule meaning the maker will start production at its first U.S. auto factory by the end of 2018, according to Volvo officials.
The company broke ground on the plant near Ridgeville, South Carolina, in 2015 as part of its new global manufacturing strategy to support 800,000 sales in the medium term. The shell of the building is now complete.
“This investment shows Volvo’s commitment to build cars where we sell them and source where we build. The new factory is our first in the U.S., which is our second largest market globally,” said Lex Kerssemakers, president and CEO of Volvo Car USA.
“South Carolina has been an excellent partner and we look forward to becoming an integral part of the low-country community.”
(The new Volvo XC90 is in a class by itself. To see more of TDB’s driving impressions, Click Here.)
Some 2,000 workers are expected to staff the 2.3-million square-foot plant, which will build up to 60,000 all-new Volvo S60 models per year for domestic and export markets.
The South Carolina plant is part of the company’s $11 billion transformation plan that has involved the development of its own modular vehicle architecture, a new engine range, global manufacturing capability, a completely renewed product range and world leading developments in safety, autonomous driving and connectivity.
(Click Here for a closer look at the all-new Volvo XC60.)
The all-new Volvo XC60, one of the vehicles developed under the plan, is scheduled to its North American debut at the 2017 New York International Auto Show. The XC60 marks the start of the new 60 series cars featuring Volvo’s new award-winning design language built on the company’s Scalable Product Architecture.
Volvo is now owned by Geely Automotive of China, but its Chinese investors have given the company’s executives wide latitude to develop their vehicles and a strategy for bringing them to market.
(Volvo stepping up the pace of product makeover. Click Here for the story.)
Volvo Car USA is a subsidiary of Volvo Car Corp. of Gothenburg, Sweden. VCUSA provides marketing, sales, parts, service, technology and training support to Volvo automobile retailers in the United States.