Volvo Cars to manufacture its EVs in Europe
Last autumn, Volvo Cars announced that it would produce its EX30 at the Belgian plant in Ghent from 2025. At the time, the company justified the move with greater flexibility. However, another reason is clearly the looming hike in tariffs the EU could impose on electric cars from China.
The period until the planned start of production in Belgium next year could be problematic. Because, if the higher tariffs are imposed, Volvo could stop imports to the EU, The Times reports. While such a move is no longer on the table, it is not sure what Volvo will do. The EU should announce this week whether or not it will impose the import duties – only then will we know for sure.
Volvo told The Times that it was ‘premature’ to draw conclusions about the EU Commission’s investigation and possible measures the carmaker would have to take if trade barriers were imposed. “We are monitoring the EC investigation and cannot comment further until a decision from the EC is made,” a spokesman said. However, it is also clear that anything other than new import tariffs would be surprising, and the only issue is likely to be the exact EV. There is talk of 25 to 30 per cent.
Volvo Cars plans to manufacture not only the EX30 but also the EX90 at its European factory in Ghent, Belgium, as per report from The Times. Volvos imported to not only EU countries but even the UK could be made in Ghent in the future. Volvo Cars reiterated that, saying it wants to build its cars where it can sell them as much as possible, as per a Bloomberg report. It didn’t, however, comment on the rumour about making the EX90 in Belgium and avoided revealing the production location of the Euro-spec EX90.
So far, we’ve known of only two production sites for the Volvo EX90: Ridgeville (South Carolina), US, and Daqing (Heilongjiang), China. US production started last week, while Chinese production will begin later this year. However, Volvo Cars hasn’t said whether it will import the EX90 to Europe from the US or China, and it hasn’t confirmed local production either. The Belgian factory would be the third production site of the EX90 if the report turns out to be true.
Volvo Cars, although owned by Chinese conglomerate Zhejiang Geely Holding since 2010, has maintained its individuality and remained focused on its well-known attributes like safety, quality, and value for money. The company leveraged its Chinese ownership to price the EX30 very competitively, but whether it’ll be able to keep that intact with the switch to European production and that too without eroding its profit margins remains to be seen.
Priced from €35,490 in Germany and £33,795 in the UK, the Volvo EX30 competes with the Smart #1, which also comes from China. The Volvo EX90, which costs a whopping €83,700 onwards in Germany and £96,255 onwards in the UK, locks horns with the likes of the Tesla Model X and the Mercedes EQE SUV.
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