(Stockholm) Automaker Volvo will invest 10 million Swedish crowns (C$1.39 billion) in its historic Gothenburg factory in Sweden to switch to electric car production, it announced on Tuesday.
Posted at 11:22
The Swedish subsidiary of Chinese Geely, which announced last March to switch to a 100% electric range by 2030, will make this investment in the Torslanda (south-west) plant “over the next few years, in preparation for production of the new generation of all-electric cars,” she said in a statement.
Volvo CEO Håkan Samuelsson presenting the 360 Concept self-driving electric car prototype in 2018.
The factory is the oldest (1964) and the largest of the brand based in Gothenburg, with nearly 6,500 employees and a production of 1,250 vehicles per day.
This investment decision comes after the announcement of another major project in Volvo’s electrification strategy, with the construction with Swedish battery specialist Northvolt of a joint plant, also near Gothenburg.
The latter should eventually employ 3,000 people, and will be added to a Research and Development center as part of an investment of 30 billion crowns (4.17 billion Canadian dollars)
Volvo Cars is one of the most advanced manufacturers in electrics, and has only been selling hybrid or all-electric models since 2019.
Launched in a rapid shift towards electric, car manufacturers are multiplying factory conversions to get out of the internal combustion engine.
The French Renault thus invests among others on its site of Douai in the north of France, just like Volkswagen in Zwickau in the west of Germany or the Japanese Nissan in Sunderland in England.