New Volvo Factory and Products Signal Change in the U.S., from Kelley Blue Book.
In 2009, Volvo went through a rough patch of slumping sales, an aging product line, and an anxious parent, Ford, looking to downsize its foreign interests. In 2010, the Blue Oval cut Volvo loose, which initiated a massive restructuring effort internally.
The fruits of that process are beginning to emerge and on a global scale, Volvo is booming. The Swedish car firm shipped an all-time record of 465,866 vehicles last year, an annual increase of 8.9 percent. Company president Håkan Samuelsson predicts this growth to continue, as Volvo is “still in an investment phase,” and he’s targeting 800,000 annual sales in the coming years.
Volvo’s fortunes as of late in the U.S. market haven’t been quite as prosperous. Sales slid to just 56,366 cars in 2014 (less than half its annual rate from ten years prior), however the latest plan seeks to fix that.
Volvo Opening its First Factory in the US
In the days before the New York Auto Show, Volvo announced it will invest $500 million to open a new vehicle production facility on U.S. soil. The exact location of the plant has yet to be announced, but it would produce vehicles for the domestic market, and at some point, potentially, for export.
