Volvo could soon join BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Kia in the Southeastern United States, as the Sino-Swedish automaker is seeking a home for a new factory.
WDRB-TV reports Kentucky, North Carolina and South Carolina are in the crosshairs for the factory, with incentives from the respective governments the deciding factor in where Volvo goes.
Potential locations cited by the station, as well as publications News & Observer and The Times & Democrat, include Hardin and Christian counties in Kentucky, Siler City and two other locations in North Carolina, and the Charleston area in South Carolina.
Volvo has a presence in North Carolina, where its North American truck division is headquartered. The automaker also once considered South Carolina for a factory back in 1996. No comment about the current search was given by Volvo, however, nor by those who would know of such information, including Kentucky governor Steve Beshear and South Carolina Department of Commerce representative Allison Skipper.
DEY TOOK RRRRRRRRRR JEBBBBBBS!
Oh wait they brought some back.
“Considering” being the operative word in that headline. But at least there is the possibility of bringing those jobs to the U.S. which is a good thing.
Why anyone would consider buying a Premium Brand vehicle that’s made in Mexico or China is beyond me. It would be like buying a Rolex at full price from the trunk of some guys car.
*cough* iPhone, Macbook *cough*
Both of your points are valid.
Why would they open a US plant, only to close it in a few years due to slow sales? I don’t see any other outcome.
They should utilize Mitsubishi’s excess capacity in the US – heh.
I agree. I hear they are also “considering” leaving the US market.
Just a minor point, Volvo Truck is not related to Volvo Car
Yup, “Truck” isn’t owned by the Chinese. There could be synergies in sharing pickled herring though.
Just saw that in article, their NA truck division – who the hell was writing this making such stupid mistakes- NA truck division:D Volvo AB and Volvo cars are since separate companies for decade and half i think, since Ford bought Volvo car division from Volvo AB
Isn’t it interesting, how corporations play the flirting game with state governments?
Its like those dating TV shows, where the handsome host asks behind-the curtain questions to contestants? To see who offers more?
On other news, how come the thread “Ghosn: Russia’s auto market will lose a third of itself under the nation’s recession” is not accepting comments?
Not sure that it’s “interesting”. Seems entirely “sensible” though.
If you’re considering making a big investment and looking at places that are largely interchangeable with each other, why *wouldn’t* you see who was most willing to sweeten the pot?
Read today that JLR also are interrested to build plant in Georgia, so let´s see, but i don´t see any effectivness for Volvo to have plant in the US, to small sales and not big potential anyway, maybe MEX plant would make some sense with lower wages and MEX has more opportunities to export globally, but opening plant in the US for brand like Volvo with their sales, they export from EUR, they even were saying Chinese imports, so what the hell US plant would be producing what 1 model 10 thousand cars per year?:D
Maybe if Geely decided to go to America, than yes join – Geely-Volvo plant would make some sense, but Geely is light years far away from entering NA market right now, so it wouldn´t make much sense for them at this point, before Geely actually starst importing some of their cars at least 10-20 thousand to NA market to get some brand recognition, dealerships and so on
I’m shocked that they’re not considering “blue” states.
It’s cheaper to run a manufacturing plant in a red state.
Boone County in Northern Kentucky has a recently vacated Toyota plant!
Headquarters ≠ a car plant.
TMMK may have some manufacturing talent willing to relocate though, as does the 2 Louisville Ford plants and the GM plant in Bowling Green.
I think Geely figured out that there are about 17 Americans who would buy an overpriced Volvo that’s made in China.
^^This definitely. The wife and I drove Volvos exclusively for years until our twins were born and stretched the repair budget – We switched to Nissan. Now 3 years later my wife is wanting a Volvo again. I’m trying to talk her out of it, I’ve been using “Owned by the Chinese” as a defense, this won’t help…
The only Chinese-made Volvo coming to the US is the S60L, otherwise they’re all built in Sweden or Belgium. For the most part Geely has been hands off, financing without changing engineering standards, and taking Volvo safety technology for their cheaper cars. (FWIW I’m still taking a Volvo paycheck for the next four weeks until I start my new job.)
Ssssssshhhhh… I know the S60L is the only model slated to be Chinese but my wife doesn’t… Now that we’ve mostly recovered financially from the twins she’s getting worried about “safety”. I should probably just lie and tell I had to take a pay cut.
Well in fairness to your wife, one of the “older models” (XC60/70/90) should be very flexible on pricing or as a certified….
True enough however we’ve owned a 1989 240, 2001 V70, 2002 S60 and a 2005 XC70 already and I’m not looking forward to going back to $1300 AC repairs every damn spring, endless CELs, bad instrument clusters, shift flare and delayed engagement.
Of course these are all common issues to P2 Volvos. I don’t know how the new platform is holding up. She’s in love with the XC60 but a quick scan of Truedelta tells me a horror show awaits outside of warranty.
Don’t misunderstand – I actually loved my Volvos, loved how they looked, they were pleasant to drive and the seating is second to none.
What happened to your job?
Johnny, in addition to all the other ridiculous problems Volvo is having selling Swedish iron, I think you can double that for a $50,000 Chinese built luxury sedan.
Is price the only real obstacle? This seems a bit like arranging deckchairs on the Titanic.
I think price is probably the main obstacle for Volvo at this point. Their product is competitive, and even desirable but won’t sell at the price point they’re at. A S6 with the turbo, leather, nav and sunroof pushes $50,000, and that’s a LOT for what amounts to a FWD car.
Volvo announced in mid-Jan that XC90 pre-orders are at 6,000. On Feb 3rd a new Volvo press release said pre-orders are running at 15,000! The 2016 XC90 looks like it’s going to be a grand slam for Volvo. The new 3rd shift at the Torslanda factory will be going at full steam for a quite a while.
Gee, I wonder if they’d ever consider putting a plant in a place like, I dunno, Halifax?
I think this is a good move if they actually do it. If Volvo isn’t giving up on the U.S. market, they should focus on setting up a plant in the U.S. instead of bringing the S60L from China.
They can’t afford the negative PR that some people will heap onto the S60L. They should let someone else be the first major company to import from China. America doesn’t do nuance.
Geely at least is not a state-owned company — it’s a private company started by a guy who built the business from scratch: http://forbes.com/sites/russellflannery/2014/10/27/geely-in-swedish/
Compare that with VW/Audi’s decades-long investment (since 1984) in Chinese STATE-owned car companies SAIC and FAW. Bash Volvo for being owned by Geely, but just remember that other companies are super-invested in China and are transferring technology rapidly to China’s state-owned companies:
http://forbes.com/sites/christinentierney/2014/03/29/chinas-president-xi-vw-ceo-winterkorn-relax-at-a-ball-game-after-a-long-week/
http://autonews.com/article/20140707/COPY01/307079922/vw-to-invest-$2.7-billion-for-2-more-china-assembly-plants
http://www.ibtimes.com/why-chinas-privately-held-car-companies-geely-byd-great-wall-cant-seem-compete-state-owned-1668802
“One of the more outspoken critics of China’s policy is Li Shufu, the founder of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. Ltd., whose company bought Volvo Car Corp. from Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) in 2010. Li says allowing the competition would be good for local innovation as more Chinese car companies would be forced to invest in research and development (R&D) instead of relying on technology transfers from companies like Volkswagen AG (FRA:VOW) and GM.”
A U.S factory, combined with the related potential price drop, could save Volvo in the states.
If they keep trying to sell at BMW and Mercedes prices, they are probably doomed.
The XC90 initial sales surge is nice to see, but I suspect it will be short lived, perhaps two years at most.
Hey guys, looks like an American factory is a definite. Volvo just made the announcement.
And pre-orders for the the new XC90 are at 24,000, as of Apr 02. About half of what Volvo expected for the full year. Incredible. They haven’t even appeared in dealerships yet. The XC90 is Volvo’s American car–40% of the old XC90 were sold in the US. Yes, Volvo is here to stay in the US.