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Volvo EX30 will be manufactured in Belgium

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The EU’s struggle with electric cars made in China has been going on for a long time, so the European Parliament decided on additional tariffs on car imports from China. This will further affect some of the European manufacturers that have plants in China, such as Volvo, who are already struggling with the uncompetitive prices of electric vehicles made in China. To avoid additional tariffs that will come into effect in Q3 2024, Volvo is preparing production lines at the Ghent plant for its EX30 model, which is currently being assembled in China.

The Volvo EX30 is the smallest model in the Swedish manufacturer’s fleet but also the best-selling car, achieving outstanding results in the European market with 13,000 deliveries, despite the decrease in demand for EVs.

The new tariffs that the European Union has decided to introduce on cars manufactured in China will certainly affect car prices. That’s why manufacturers have few options, and the least expectation is that manufacturers will take on additional price burdens in order to maintain demand for their cars. Another possibility is an increase in prices, which would mean less demand, while the best decision would be to produce cars on European soil, which Volvo will do.

However, not all manufacturers can transfer the production of their cars to European soil, but Volvo still can, which is why the company decided to close its factory in Ghent, Belgium for seven days and send more than 6,500 employees on vacation while preparations are underway to install a new production plant. lines for the production of the new EX30, which will start from 2025. The Ghent plant is one of the most profitable for the Swedish-Chinese brand, which currently produces the EX40 and EX40 models. However, there is still enough capacity in Ghent to produce the EX30 with which Volvo will achieve the maximum production volume. Last year, about 230,000 units left the factory in Ghent, of which 60 percent were electric cars.

Source: Volvo

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Volvo EX30 will be manufactured in Belgium
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Volvo sales results for Q1 2024

Q1 2024 is behind us and car manufacturers summarize their sales results. One of them is Volvo, which is more than satisfied with its sales because last month was the best March in the history of this Swedish manufacturer.

According to published data, Volvo sold 182,687 cars worldwide in Q1 2024, which is 12 percent more than in Q1 2023. Also, March was the most successful month in the company’s history with 78,970 cars delivered worldwide, which is 25 percent more than the same month in 2023.

“We are making good progress towards our annual sales target of at least 15 percent growth and in the months ahead we will focus on ramping-up sales of our EX30,” says Björn Annwall, Volvo Cars’ chief commercial officer & deputy CEO.

When it comes to sales of electric and PHEV hybrids, Volvo recorded sales growth of 24 percent with 33,558 units sold. It should also be noted that 23 percent of total sales in March were fully electric models, which is a good sign for a company that is striving to become fully electric by the end of the decade.

On the old continent, Volvo delivered 39,756 units, which is 33 percent more compared to the same period last year. Volvo was also successful in other markets with 15,315 cars (+50%) delivered in the US and 14,005 cars (+21%) in China. In March, Volvo delivered 22,402 units (+63%) and the Volvo XC60 remained the most popular model in the fleet. Other models such as the XC40 (20,557 units) and XC90 (10,826 units) achieved notable results.

Source: Volvo

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Volvo’s last diesel car is the XC90

Last year, Volvo announced that it will end production of all remaining diesel models in 2024, as the company’s goal is to become a fully electric brand by the end of the decade. After almost half a century and more than nine million diesel cars sold in the last 33 years, Volvo has decided that it’s time for the end. Their last diesel car is a Volvo XC90.

This SUV is powered by a 2.0-liter four-cylinder from the VEA (Volvo Engine Architecture) family. It is the second diesel engine that Volvo has produced in its 97-year history. Their first diesel engine was produced at the beginning of the century, in the Swedish factory in Skovde, which in the meantime switched to the production of electric engines.

Diesel cars used to be in high demand, at least in Europe. In 2015, more than 50 percent of new cars sold in Europe were diesels. But since then, their demand has been falling rapidly. 2019 was the last year when the majority of Volvo cars sold were diesels. After that, a big drop in sales of these cars was recorded every year, and in 2022 it was only 8.9 percent.

“Electric powertrains are our future, and superior to combustion engines: they generate less noise, less vibration, less servicing costs for our customers and zero tailpipe emissions. We’re fully focused on creating a broad portfolio of premium, fully electric cars that deliver on everything our customers expect from a Volvo – and are a key part of our response to climate change,” says Jim Rowan, Chief Executive at Volvo Cars.

Source: Volvo