Volvo Chooses South Carolina for Auto Plant

COLUMBIA, S.C. (The State/TNS) —

Volvo announced Monday that it will build a $500 million factory in South Carolina to produce 100,000 cars a year.

Construction on the Swedish automaker’s first U.S. plant will start this fall, with the first cars produced in 2018. The South Carolina plant will add to four Volvo factories in Europe and China, where the automaker’s parent company is based.

Volvo usually makes two models of vehicles at its plants, company spokesman Jim Nichols said. But the automaker has not decided which models will be built in South Carolina.

Volvo could employ up to 2,000 workers in the decade after the plant opens and another 2,000 by 2030, the S.C. Department of Commerce said. The state employs 46,000 automotive-industry workers, including at hundreds of suppliers, according to the S.C. Automotive Council.

Gov. Nikki Haley held a news conference Monday with S.C. Commerce Secretary Bobby Hitt at the Governor’s Mansion in Columbia.

Haley said that Volvo wanted to be made in America and gave the company credit for that goal, but added that “more importantly, we love that they’re now going to be made in South Carolina.”

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