Volvo Cars today announced that it will establish a third manufacturing plant in Europe, positioning the company to meet continued demand from customers for electric cars and capture future growth potential.
The new state-of-the-art plant will be climate neutral and build only EVs, underpinning the company’s ambition to become fully electric by 2030 and climate neutral by 2040, and to continue expanding its global production capacity to match its growth ambitions.
By picking Slovakia as the location for its new plant, Volvo Cars creates a European triangle of manufacturing covering its largest sales region – complementing the Ghent plant (Belgium) in western Europe and the Torslanda plant (Sweden) in northern Europe.
The new facility is a major investment for the company, and will be located close to Kosice in eastern Slovakia. The location was chosen because of its well-established automotive supply chain, and it will become the fifth car plant in the country.
Volvo Cars is aiming to increase sales to 1.2 million cars per year by mid-decade. This goal will be met with manufacturing footprints in Europe, the US, and Asia.
Construction of the Kosice plant is scheduled to begin in 2023, with equipment and production lines installed during 2024. Series production of next-generation, pure electric Volvo cars is slated to start in 2026.
In line with Volvo Cars’ ambition to have climate-neutral manufacturing operations by 2025, the plant will use only climate-neutral energy. The facility will also be designed to be a leader in sustainable and efficient premium electric car production, with an optimized layout and logistics flow. Additionally, Volvo Cars aims for the highest global standards in energy and environmental efficiency for the plant.
As for the location, Kosice offers good logistical and transport links to the rest of Europe as well as access to a good supplier base.
