Volvo Cars will open a third production facility in Europe. This will position the company well to meet its customers' ongoing demand for electric cars.
The new state-of-the-art factory will be climate neutral and build electric cars. This is in support of the ambition to be fully electric by 2030 and climate neutral by 2040. Slovakia has been chosen as the new production location. With this, Volvo Cars is creating a European production triangle. It can therefore cover a large sales area. The new plant complements the Ghent (Belgium) plant in Western Europe and the Torslanda (Sweden) plant in Northern Europe.
Investment
The new facility represents an investment of around €1.2 billion. It will be located near Kosice, in eastern Slovakia. There, it will benefit from an established automotive supply chain. Indeed, the new production facility will be the fifth car plant in the country. There are good logistics links to the rest of Europe at this location and access to a good supplier base.
Ambition
Volvo Cars' ambition is to reach annual sales of 1.2 million cars by the middle of this decade, with sales in Europe, the US and Asia. "Indeed, we have a clear focus to be a 100 per cent electric mobility brand by 2030, which is in line with our goal," said Jim Rowan, chief executive at Volvo Cars. "Expansion in Europe, our largest sales region, is critical to our shift to electrification and continued growth. I am therefore very pleased to expand our Volvo Cars production into Slovakia. And I look forward to welcoming new colleagues and partners on the journey ahead."
Construction begins
Construction of the Kosice plant is scheduled to start in 2023. This will be followed by the installation of the production lines. These are scheduled for 2024. Finally, series production of the next generation, pure electric Volvo cars is planned for 2026.
Climate neutral energy
In line with Volvo Cars' ambition to produce climate-neutral cars by 2025, the factory will use only climate-neutral energy. The plant will also be designed to be a leader in sustainable and efficient production of premium electric cars with an optimised layout and logistics flow.
250,000 cars a year
The plant is designed to produce up to 250,000 cars a year. It is expected to create several thousand new jobs in the region. The location also allows for further expansion of the plant in the future.
Almost 60 years
The Kosice plant is the first new European production site for Volvo Cars in almost 60 years. The Torslanda plant was opened in 1964, while the Ghent plant followed a year later. Together, these facilities can produce 600,000 cars a year.
Competitive advantage
“I welcome Volvo Cars’ decision to build its new factory in Slovakia. The new Volvo Cars factory is important to us because it will improve the social and economic situation in the region and will produce exclusively electric cars. This gives the Slovak automotive industry a competitive advantage in the new green era,” said the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, Eduard Heger.
Employment
“Personally, I am delighted that Slovakia has succeeded in the competition for this major investment. It will drive development and create many jobs in eastern Slovakia, as it will lead to a great deal of direct and indirect employment,” said Richard Sulik, Minister for the Economy of the Slovak Republic.
Photos: Volvo Cars
