Volvo Cars was the first legacy car maker to come out and set a goal for when it would only produce 100% electric cars, and it has long focused on safety, including the safety of the planet/environment. This week, it takes that leadership back to the fore by announcing a third factory in Europe, one that will produce electric cars and capture future growth potential.
Volvo Cars aims to produce only fully electric vehicles by 2030 and to be carbon neutral by 2040. In the meantime, the company wants to continue to grow. The new factory will have a production capacity of 250,000 electric cars per year once it is operational.
“We have a clear focus on becoming a pure electric mobility brand by 2030, which is in line with our goal,” said Jim Rowan, Volvo Cars CEO. “Expansion in Europe, our largest sales region, is critical to our shift towards electrification and continued growth. I am very excited to expand our Volvo Cars manufacturing footprint to Slovakia and look forward to welcoming new colleagues and partners on the upcoming journey.”
This plant will be located near Kosice in eastern Slovakia, which the company believes has important geometric implications. “Volvo Cars is creating a European production triangle covering its largest sales region – complementing the Ghent (Belgium) plant in Western Europe and the Torslanda (Sweden) plant in Northern Europe.”
“Volvo Cars is gearing up for long-term sustainable growth with a new electric car factory in Slovakia”, completing a European triangle of manufacturing power. Image courtesy of Volvo Cars.
This will be the fifth car factory in the country, so it should benefit from a strong automotive supply chain and workforce.
This is part of Volvo Cars’ plan to grow and increasingly electrify. That may sound natural, but it should be noted that the car market has been shrinking for a few years now and there is a serious challenge to the Osborne effect within the industry as more and more people want electric cars, but the bulk of the car production capacity around the world is equipped for cars that run on fossil fuels. That’s certainly part of the reason Volvo Cars wants to electrify so quickly – it sees the window as quite short and coming soon.
“Volvo Cars aims to reach annual sales of 1.2 million cars by the middle of the decade, which it aims to achieve with a global manufacturing footprint in Europe, the US and Asia,” the company said. Five years later, Volvo Cars should be 100% electric. Any new Volvo Cars factory will undoubtedly be fully electric vehicles.
Image courtesy of Volvo Cars.
This will actually be Volvo Cars’ first European production expansion in almost 60 years† The last time a new factory was opened on the Old Continent was when the Ghent factory was opened in 1965. Combined with the Torslanda plant established a year earlier, the production capacity of these two “latest” additions to Volvo Cars’ production facilities is 600,000 vehicles per year. A production increase of 250,000 units is therefore a big step forward for the medium-sized car company.
Naturally, Slovakia is very happy with the news of the new factory location. “I appreciate that Volvo Cars has decided 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 only produce electric cars, which will give the Slovak car industry a competitive perspective in the new ecological era,” said the Prime Minister of Slovakia , Mr Eduard Heger.
Construction of the new factory will begin next year, in 2023. Production lines should be installed in 2024. Full series production of electric cars should start in 2026.
Do you appreciate CleanTechnica’s originality and cleantech news coverage? Consider becoming a CleanTechnica member, supporter, technician or ambassador – or a patron on Patreon.