Tag: volvo cars

Volvo Cars ramps up South Carolina Hybrid output

Volvo Cars boosts its Ridgeville plant with new investments, adding XC60 and hybrid production to hit full capacity, aligning with US demand and global goals amid trade and EV market challenges.

Ilkhan Ozsevim

European vehicle makers navigate the challenging US tariffs

The European vehicle manufacturing sector faces a multitude of challenges including tariffs imposed by President Trump. OEMs are now reviewing their export strategies and manufacturing networks.

Polestar expands European production with new Polestar 7 in Slovakia

Polestar is advancing its production strategy with a new European manufacturing footprint, shared platforms with Volvo Cars, and the forthcoming Polestar 7 SUV set to launch from new Slovakia plant in 2028.

Tariffs, competition and challenging markets put European OEMs under more pressure

The European vehicle manufacturing sector faces major challenges amidst ongoing geopolitical and economic turmoil. This review looks at US tariffs, the slower adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), low factory utilisation, and the rising competition from the Chinese vehicle manufacturers.

Circular economy targets inspire new design, sourcing and supply‑chain strategies for EVs, batteries and interiors

Leading OEMs and suppliers are no longer treating circularity as an end-of-life concern. Design, sourcing and localisation strategies are being rethought to prioritise reuse, remanufacture and material traceability from day one.

Volvo Cars to use recycled, near zero-emission steel in 2025 models under SSAB deal

Volvo Cars has signed an agreement with Swedish steelmaker SSAB to begin using recycled, near zero-emission steel in its manufacturing operations from 2025, reinforcing its goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2040 and increase circularity across its supply chain.

Hybrid powertrains will continue to support the transition to vehicle electrification

Weak EV demand, critical mineral supply challenges and tariff-driven market uncertainty keeps hybrid vehicles in the big picture for model development and production investments.

Automotive expert Tunç Kip: Human-machine interfaces essential in boosting flexibility, quality, and performance in global manufacturing

From the factory floor to upstream design, digital human-machine interfaces are enabling smarter, leaner, and more flexible vehicle production - but humans need to be at the centre of gravity for it to work.

Volvo announces 3,000 job cuts as EV sales drop and projects react

Volvo Cars is reducing its workforce by 3,000, primarily in Sweden, as part of a $1.9 billion cost-cutting plan. The move follows a significant decline in electric vehicle sales and a strategic shift in the company’s electrification goals.

Tariffs changing the automotive landscape in North America

Donald Trump’s tariffs have triggered some shorter-term shifts in US production operations and longer-term evaluation on investments and strategies as supply chains are restructured.

Augmented reality, AI, cobots and digital twins are transforming automotive production by enhancing worker training, planning, inspection and collaboration

Human-machine interfaces are becoming central to car production. With AR, cobots, AI inspection and digital twins, OEMs like Ford, Volvo, GM and Mercedes are reshaping the way people and machines interact.

Volvo Cars begins EX30 electric SUV production at Ghent, adding jobs and capacity to meet high demand across Europe

Volvo Cars has started building its best-selling EX30 EV at its Ghent plant, investing €200m ($227m) to expand flexible production, create hundreds of new jobs and align output more closely with growing European demand.

EU allows automakers flexibility for 2025 emissions targets to be averaged over 2025-2027, easing regulatory pressure

The European Commission has eased 2025 CO2 targets, averaging them over 2025-2027. While this relieves short-term pressure, it raises concerns over Europe’s ability to stay competitive with China in the EV race.

Polestar plans European production of imminent Polestar 7, moving away from China in nearshoring drive, solving for supply chain complexities

Polestar aims to hit profitability by 2025 with Polestar 7 to be built in Europe, exiting China in regionalisation move enhancing supply chain resilience. The carmaker’s strategy includes streamlined product lines eyeing growth targets for premium EV market.

What next for Chinese investment in Europe?

China’s economy is slowing, and the US is threatening high tariffs on Chinese imports. Against this backdrop Chinese OEMs are looking to expand operations in Europe. Ian Henry examines the opportunities and challenges.

Megacasting: a new frontier or unfounded flare-up for automotive production?

From Tesla to Volvo, Megacasting is gaining traction. While it offers efficiency and sustainability benefits, challenges remain. Stellantis, however, remains unconvinced.

Ilkhan Ozsevim

Volvo’s 100% EV strategy shift: facing the unavoidable truth

Lower-than-expected EV sales continues to have repercussions for production plans, with Volvo the latest vehicle maker to delay 100% EV target.

Polestar starts US production of the Polestar 3

Polestar has started production of its Polestar 3 SUV at the Volvo plant in Ridgeville, South Carolina.

Breaking down silos: the necessity for co-creative collaboration

The Design4Production event in Munich proved that collaboration between is key to success across automotive production, engineering and design. The topic was present across every single session in one form or another. Here are the highlights of the theme…

Design4Production: Recap blog

Thank you for joining us for the Design4Production 2024 event, read the summary of the key sessions covered at the event below. Today’s discussions highlighted the critical integration of design, engineering, and production to foster innovation and collaboration in the automotive industry. Esteemed speakers from Ford, NOYO AG, Volvo Group, Hyundai, among others, emphasised the importance of breaking down silos, enhancing sustainability, and speeding up development processes.

Volvo Cars realigns manufacturing, procurement and supply chain management

The departmental integrations reflect a broader industry shift which recognises a streamlined and holistic approach as key to carmaker successes.

Volvo’s Taizhou plant achieves climate neutrality with biogas shift

Despite the Taizhou plant’s smaller share in the company’s total emissions, this initiative is critical to Volvo’s goal of climate-neutral manufacturing by 2025 and achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.

Impacts of global geopolitics on European production

Geopolitical influences on the automotive manufacturing sector are intensifying and becoming ever more powerful. European trends cannot be looked at in isolation; their impact on the ground in Europe have their roots in wider global factors…

The changing shape of Europe’s automotive production operations

European vehicle manufacturing is having to adapt to weakening EV demand and increasing competition. This means revising production volumes and rethinking the ICE-EV balance in the short term.

Reshaping the future: Innovations and developments in automotive production engineering: propulsion by Electrification and Digitalisation

Manufacturing engineering both powers and underpins production ecosystems across the industry. From BMW’s Munich plant to Porsche’s Zuffenhausen facility and Toyota’s expansions in Kentucky, we take a look at transformative initiatives shaping the industry.

A natural fit: how and why the automotive production industry is turning to bio-materials for sustainable solutions in pursuit of zero emissions and enhanced performance

Bio-based materials like flax, hemp, kenaf, and jute are reshaping automotive production for sustainability. These natural fibres offer durable, lightweight alternatives for several vehicle components, from dashboards to electric vehicle batteries.

Volvo Cars selects Ghent for production of EX30, aligning with Zhangjiakou to meet demand

With high interest for the compact EV SUV, Volvo Cars selects Belgium to ramp up production levels to meet both local and global demand.

Fanuc and Volvo Cars sign deal to transform automotive manufacturing with sustainable robotics

In a landmark collaboration, Fanuc, the global leader in industrial robotics, and Volvo Cars are to reshape auto manufacturing with sustainability at the forefront

Floods affect manufacturing facilities in Slovenia

Major flooding in Slovenia throughout the last month has affected manufacturing facilities in Slovenia and across Europe, hitting the production of carmakers including Volkswagen.

Renault and Geely sign joint venture agreement to launch powertrain technology company

Renault and Geely have signed a 50-50% joint venture agreement to form a new company, to develop and produce next-generation hybrid and highly efficient ICE powertrain solutions

Developing EV architectures optimised for manufacturing

There’s more to electrification than batteries. We look at some of the developments and trends in designing and manufacturing electric vehicle platforms ahead our exclusive livestream featuring Gestamp and ArcelorMittal

Re-evaluating recycled materials

Carmakers are increasingly looking into ways of reducing the environmental impact of their vehicle manufacture – and one way to do this is by using more recycled materials in their cars. But how can they go about this?

AMS Spring 2023 – Next level digital production engineering

In this latest AMS digital edition we have features on Audi’s digital production engineering strategy, Dacia’s vehicle plant Mioveni, production cloud systems, toolmaking, China, sustainability and more.

China: European, US and Japanese Vehicle Manufacturers rebalance production and supply chains

AMS looks at the changing role of the Chinese operations of European and other long established brands’ operations in China and their changing roles in the global auto sector

Volvo to build new EX90 electric SUV in USA from 2023, Chinese production to follow

The Swedish car brand says the new electric SUV is a milestone in its journey to producing only electric cars by 2030.

Volvo to open climate-neutral EV-only car factory in Slovakia in 2026

Slovakia’s prime minister said the investment marked the start of a second Slovakian auto-making hub which it has been preparing for, this time in its eastern region.

After tailpipes, auto industry ponders CO2 purge from its materials

Three automotive industry executives from Polestar, Volvo Cars and SSAB discuss approaches to removing carbon from carmaking with neither a ready recipe nor time for trial and error.

Watch: A holistic approach to sustainable vehicle production

Hans Pehrson, Owain Griffiths and Thomas Hörnfeldt emphasise the importance of moving towards a greener model to meet sustaibility targets - whether it’s whole-of-vehicle manufacturing or greening the global supply chain.

Volvo’s mega changemaker

Javier Varela, senior vice-president of engineering and operations, is leading Volvo Cars’ industrial transformation, from platform engineering through to vehicle production. He explains key steps in the carmaker’s ramp up in EV and battery output, and how it will achieve ambitious sustainability targets

Megacasting: a chance to rethink body manufacturing

The aluminium die-casting process could revolutionise body construction. Professor Wolfram Volk, the department head for forming technology and casting at the Technical University of Munich, explains the advantages and disadvantages of so-called ‘mega’- or ‘gigacasting’.

The die is cast for Volvo’s future EV production

One of the key pillars of Volvo’s investment in electric vehicles will be the application of aluminium megacasting to produce large structural parts. Mikael Fermér, solution architect for vehicle platforms at Volvo Cars, explains the significance of this change for EV production.

Electrifying Europe: new EU ‘Fit for 55’ legislation effectively bans petrol and diesel engines by 2035

The EU’s latest salvo against the automotive industry to mitigate against climate change is the most radical yet, tightening emission targets more than previously announced and setting a timetable to eliminate combustion engines – all of which will ultimately transform automotive manufacturing and supply chain

VW to have 240 GWh of battery plants in Europe by 2030

Volkswagen Group plans to significantly increase battery cell production capacity and reshape the EV battery supply chain in Europe, with plans to have six ‘gigafactories’ by the end of the decade – including an expansion of its partnership with Sweden’s Northvolt.

Carmakers pledge to switch to all-electric vehicles

The wave of electrification is slowly turning into a tsunami, in Europe at least. Illya Verpraet takes a look at some of the big manufacturing plans in 2021

Simulate to fabricate: vehicle plants keep VR and AR in their sights

Carmakers are exploring how virtual reality and augmented reality can be used to improve manufacturing and inspection operations

AMS on Africa: Part 6 – Volvo Trucks of the trade

Volvo Trucks is a big player in the South African commercial vehicle market and, as demand grows, the team at its Amanzimtoti plant are expecting a busy schedule

Volvo: new platforms for a new company

Interview: Håkan Ivarsson, Volvo

Volvo goes global

Pressing ahead at Volvo