Volvo Expands Swedish Production, Honors 50 Years of Torslanda Plant

Today Volvo opened a new manufacturing plant and body shop at its production facility in Torslanda, Sweden, exactly 50 years after the original Volvo Torslanda plant opened on April 24, 1964. The new body shop will build the new 2015 Volvo XC90 SUV and is expected to increase the company production capacity from 200,000 units per year to 300,000 units per year.

This increased capacity is a step forward toward Volvo’s annual global sales goal of 800,000 cars by 2020. While Volvo’s expansion in China will clearly play a major role in this campaign, expanded production in Sweden is important as well, given that all Volvo models currently sold in the U.S. are produced in Sweden and Belgium.

The company says it is spending $11 billion to execute a transformation plan that centers on two developments: a new Scalable Product Architecture (SPA)and a range of more efficient Drive-E engines. Both of these elements will be featured in the 2015 XC90 SUV, the first Volvo production model to ride on this modular platform and to use the new range of turbocharged and supercharged Drive-E engines. When it debuts later this year, the 2015 Volvo XC90 will feature numerous active safety technologies, styling inspired by the attractive Volvo XC Coupe concept, and an array of forced-induction Drive-E engines like those featured in the 2015 Volvo S60, V60, and XC60 models.

Volvo is also using this occasion to celebrate the historic models that have been produced at the Torslanda plant since it opened 50 years ago. In that time, the plant has manufactured more than 6.8 million vehicles, including iconic Volvo models like the Amazon, the P1800, and the 240.