RIDGEVILLE, S.C. (WCSC) – A new hybrid car is making its way to the Volvo Ridgeville production line as part of a plan to go all-electric.
The Swedish car manufacturing company celebrates 70 years of cars driving on American roads this year.
Volvo leaders, along with county and state government officials, including Gov. Henry McMaster and U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, celebrated the company’s milestone as well as new investments in South Carolina.
The new XC60 mid-size SUV will be on the production line of the Ridgeville plant after a decade since its opening.
Company leaders are working to fulfill multiple goals with the new addition. Volvo Chief Industrial Officer Francesca Gamboni says the plant currently produces less than 5% of the company’s volume in the United States. Gamboni says the aim is for the plant to produce more than 50% of the national volume by 2030. The addition of the SUV puts the plant one step forward in achieving the goal.
Gamboni says adding the new model will help bring the plant’s production to the full capacity of 150,000 cars a year.
An extra 4,000 jobs are expected to be added to the plant as one part of the investment’s impact in the state.
“We’ll obviously be much closer to our customers, so we’ll be more reactive, more flexible,” Gamboni says. “And obviously, we can also look within localizing our supply and looking at finding partners and suppliers that can support us in the parts.”
The addition also plays a role in the company’s transition to going all-electric. Volvo President and CEO Håkan Samuelsson says the company is transitioning to producing only electric vehicles by 2030.
“We will come out stronger as an electric company after this transformation that will happen,” Samuelsson says. “That’s why we need to be pragmatic and have these types of plug-in or breach solutions. Not just one generation, but we need the second generation to breach also.”
The hybrid vehicle is expected to roll out on the production line in 18 months.
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