Volvo Car Group announced that it’s building a third European manufacturing facility. The new plant, located in Kosice, Slovakia, complements the company’s two assembly sites in Ghent, Belgium, and Torslanda, Sweden. This consists of a EUR 1.2 billion (roughly $1.24 billion) investment and will be located near well-established automotive supply chains. Volvo’s new plant will be climate neutral and build battery-electric vehicles only. It’s part of the Swedish company’s larger plan to sell only fully electric models by 2030 and establish climate neutrality across its entire operation by 2040.
A Third European Plant for Volvo
The new Slovakia facility will help Volvo hit its ambitious sales target of 1.2 million vehicles by mid-decade. It aims to achieve this with its global manufacturing footprint, which includes facilities in Asia, the U.S., and Europe. Construction of the Kosice plant starts in 2023 with equipment and the production line installment happening in 2024. Production starts in 2026 with Volvo’s next-generation EVs.
As part of its carbon neutrality goals, the Kosice facility will use only climate-neutral energy. It is also being designed for improved logistics flow and an optimized layout for sustainable vehicle production. Additionally, the new facility’s configuration maximizes its energy and environmental efficiency. The plant has an initial capacity of 250,000 units. However, Volvo notes that it can expand in the future.
Volvo’s All-Electric Future
Volvo pledged at the beginning of this decade that by 2030, it will only make EVs. Therefore, it began laying down the foundations early with vehicles like the XC40 and C40 Recharge. Both use the CMA architecture shared with the Polestar 2, which was developed from the ground up to support all levels of electrification. However, that’s only the beginning.
Following the XC40 and C40, Volvo’s flagship debuts before the end of 2022. Reportedly called the Embla, it uses the second-generation Scalable Product Architecture or SPA2. Volvo developed this platform specifically for electrified applications. That means plug-in hybrids will also use it including the next-generation XC90 and S90, both of which will use only electrified powertrains.
The next-generation 60-Series vehicles are also switching to this architecture starting with the XC60 in 2024. Polestar gets two versions of SPA2; the first will be on its first SUV, the Polestar 3. After that, an aluminum-intensive version exclusive to the Polestar brand debuts on the Polestar 5.
Source: Volvo Cars
