Volvo Cars delays scale production at new Slovak plant to early 2027

STOCKHOLM: Volvo Cars has pushed back large-scale production at its factory under construction in Slovakia to early 2027 from 2026 to optimise the Swedish automaker’s product launch timeline, a spokesperson said on Thursday.

The Gothenburg-based company, owned by China’s Geely Holding , has not stated publicly which car will be produced at the plant in Kosice, other than saying it will be a next-generation Volvo model.

The spokesperson said the decision was not made recently, but declined to comment on when it was taken.

Earlier on Thursday, Polestar, also owned by Geely, said it would start producing its upcoming Polestar 7 SUV at the Kosice plant in 2028.

The plant is expected to have an annual production capacity of 250,000 cars.

In April, shortly after returning as the CEO of Volvo Cars, Hakan Samuelsson said the automaker was reviewing which cars it intended to produce at the factory, and that it would prefer to also build cars for other Geely brands there.

Volvo Cars sales fall 12% in June, fully electric tumble 26%

“We need to look a bit closer into possibilities to get in other Geely brands there,” Samuelsson told analysts in April. Sharing the plant would “be really good for us because, at the end, it’s a cost that has to be carried with production volume in the factory.”

Back at the helm, Samuelsson has made a number of big changes and cuts at the Swedish automaker, including cutting 3,000 white-collar jobs, launching a cost-cutting programme and slowing down investments.