Up to late 1998, just before the takeover by Ford was announced. I wonder if closing that plant was a little dirty deed that had to be done by Volvo before the deeper pocketed Ford was responsible? Also according to my pocket data book, there are (were) assembly plants in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines.
Volvo also had an assembly line in Australia, from 1972 to 1988. I think the assembly line actually belongs to Nissan, Volvo just rented it.
My 740 also came out of the Belgium factory, and I'm happy with it. Belgium's renowned for its high quality of glasswork, and the window glass on my 740 are made in Belgium too :) _________________ Will '90 Volvo 744 GLT B230F converted to B230FB (531 Head & VX3 Cam)
Born, Holland. The Volvo BV plant came into Volvo ownership when the company acquired a 75% stake in DAF's car division. Volvo had started negotiations with DAF as early as 1969, and gained its controlling interest after a series of financial moves. In 1976, DAF's four-cylinder Variomatic-transmission 66 model became a Volvo, heralding the introduction of the rather mundane 340 series. By 1981, the Dutch government had invested sufficient capital in the company to reduce Volvo's stake to a 30% share.
The Volvo 480ES, introduced in 1986, was a front-drive hatchback which was conceptually rather similar to the P1800 ES. The 480 used a 1.7 Renault engine, and was built in the Netherlands at the Volvo BV plant.
In 1988 Volvo introduced the Volvo 440 - an important new model in the intermediate class and developed by Volvo Car B.V. in Holland. Its roadholding and safety in particular were acclaimed by the press, as was the generous amount of space inside the car.
In 1995 Volvo unveiled a completely new vehicle family while stepping up development efforts on new products. The compact Volvo S40/V40 - the first cars to emerge from the joint venture with Mitsubishi - were presented during the year. Volvo and Mitsubishi were now building completely different car models at the Born Plant, using the same production equipment. In order to release capacity at the Born Plant, production of the Volvo 480 was discontinued. In November, the last car in the Volvo 400 Series was manufactured, after production of almost
700,000 units since 1985.
Volvo's previous S40 continues to be built at Born, Holland until spring
2004, and its demise after that signals the end of Volvo's Dutch connection which began with DAF. The new S40 and its forthcoming V50 estate version, which share nothing at all with their predecessors, are to be built in Ghent, Belgium.
The Ghent, Belgium plant has been around a long time. Volvo also used to assemble cars in Canada, but I think they shut that down with the end of the rear wheel drive generation.
Smaller Volvos have long been made in Holland as a result of the purchase of the DAF company years ago.
My '95 944t was assembled in Halifax, Canada. They closed the plant a few years later ('98 I think). Unions, labor disputes, etc. contributed to the plant's closure. However, according to Volvo (officially), there were other factors involved as well.
What will happen to the plant after that? Also - weren't some 240s made in that plant as well? The cars from that plant seem to be made pretty well - so a V40 should be a good car to consider. I just wish they had the turbo-4 in stickshift available over here.
I suspect that Volvo didn't want to spend the money to switch over the low volume Canadian factory to the new front wheel drive designs. There is probably a significant amount of tooling and machinery cost in doing so.
Sorry, but you're wrong about C70. They are all built in Uddevalla, Sweden. In the beginning by the partly owned TWR controlled Autonova plant. Later on Volvo took 100% control of the Uddevalla plant. The next Volvo cabrio will be produced in Uddevalla by a joint venture between Volvo and Pininfarina. Saab cabrios was previously built by Valmet in Finland. Now they use Magna Steyr in Austria to build their new 9-3 cabrio. Rgds, Carl
"RobertV" skrev i meddelandet news:40307577$0$70729$ snipped-for-privacy@news.euronet.nl...
I have an 87 760Ti wagon. The 740's were assembled in Dartmouth (Halifax) but the more luxurious and complex (climate control, interior, power everything) 760 was assembled in Sweden. Apparently they felt that they needed more control over the assembly of the (at that time ) flagship model...just a guess.
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.