Volvo Cars announces new electric car manufacturing plant in Slovakia

With an investment of around € 1.2 billion, Swedish car maker Volvo Cars will be establishing its third manufacturing plant in Europe at Kosice, in the eastern part of Slovakia. The new state-of-the-art plant will be climate neutral and build only electric cars, to meet the continued demand for electric cars and capture future growth potential, the company has said.

The new facility underpins 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. It will also benefit from a well-established automotive supply chain emerging in Slovakia.

By picking Slovakia as the location for its new plant, Volvo Cars claims to create 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.

"We have a clear focus on becoming a pure electric mobility brand by 2030, which is in line with our purpose," said Jim Rowan, chief executive at Volvo Cars. "Expansion in Europe, our largest sales region, is crucial to our shift to electrification and continued growth. I am very pleased to expand our Volvo Cars production footprint into Slovakia and look forward to welcoming new colleagues and partners on the journey ahead."

Construction of the Kosice plant is planned to start in 2023, with equipment and production lines to be installed in 2024. Series production of next-generation, pure electric Volvo cars is scheduled to start in 2026, according to the Chinese-owned company.

The facility is designed to produce up to 250,000 cars per year, using only climate neutral energy, with an optimized layout and logistics flow meeting highest global standards in energy and environmental efficiency.

Volvo Cars has an ambition to move towards annual sales of 1.2 million cars by mid-decade, which it aims to meet with a global manufacturing footprint spanning Europe, the US and Asia.