Volvo XC90 will be built at Volvo's new Plant in the USA from 2021

The next generation Volvo XC90 will be built in the USA

Volvo has announced its new Plant in the USA will be expanded to build the next generation XC90 from 2021, as well as the current S90 from 2018.

Volvo is on a roll with its new generation of cars, from the XC90 kicking off proceedings in 2014 followed by the new S90 and V90, the new XC60 and XC40, and more models and powertrains to come.

That success has seen Volvo’s sales rise sharply, which means they need to add more production facilities to meet demand, and they currently have a new Plant in China underway to add to the existing Chinese and Swedish Plants, and a new Plant in the USA too.

But the new US Plant – in Charleston, South Carolina – which is due to be ready to roll in Autumn 2018, is going to be bigger than planned to cope with demand.

Volvo are now investing a total of £800 million in the Plant so it can not only produce the new S60 – as planned – but churn out the next-generation XC90 from 2021.

That will mean the South Carolina Plant is capable of producing 150,000 cars a year, delivering almost 4,000 jobs to the local economy and helping cushion Volvo from any damage Trump may inflict with his protectionist aims.

Lex Kerssemakers, Volvo’s US CEO (until next week), said:

We’re excited to add a second car to our first American factory and we continue to be impressed by the entrepreneurial spirit in South Carolina.
Our business in the U.S. has been undergoing a transformation over the past two years and this is an important next step for our development here.

It’s all part of Volvo’s plan to double sales in the region by 2020, and with a third of Volvo’s XC90 sales coming from the US it’s an eminently practical move too.