Volvo opens its first car plant in the US

Volvo has just inaugurated its first manufacturing plant in the US, in Charleston, South Carolina. Besides this new plant, Volvo has 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 S60 sedan, based on the company’s Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) platform. From 2021, the factory will also build the next generation of the XC90 SUV. Cars built at the plant are destined both for the domestic US market and international export. 

Volvo is investing around 1.1 billion US dollars in this new manufacturing operation and will create around 4,000 new jobs at the Charleston site over the coming years. Approximately 1,500 staff will be employed by the end of this year. The company will build plug-in hybrid cars at all of its car plants globally. In 2017, Volvo was the first global car maker to announce its strategy that from 2019 all new models will be electrified.