Sweden’s Volvo Cars, a subsidiary of China’s Geely, plans to ramp up vehicle production in the United States and may introduce an additional model at its U.S. plant in response to new tariffs introduced by President Donald Trump, the company’s CEO said Thursday.
Under the new policy, cars manufactured outside the U.S. are now subject to a 25% tariff, while tariffs on spare parts will be phased in over time.
“We will have to increase the number of cars we build in the US, and surely move another model to that factory,” CEO Håkan Samuelsson told Bloomberg.
Volvo Cars currently assembles its EX90 electric model at its plant in Ridgeville, South Carolina, alongside the Polestar 3, produced by Volvo’s electric vehicle spinoff, Polestar.
Samuelsson stated that the company is evaluating which model to add to its U.S. production lineup. “We will have to look closely” at the options, he added.
When contacted by AFP, Volvo Cars declined to provide additional details regarding its expansion plans.
Samuelsson, 74, previously served as Volvo’s CEO from 2012 to 2022 before returning to the role on April 1 following the dismissal of Jim Rowan.
The company has already signaled that 2025 will be a challenging year, citing the impact of tariffs and a slowdown in the adoption of electric vehicles.
Although Volvo Cars has been shifting towards an electric-focused strategy, it abandoned its initial goal of selling only electric vehicles by 2030. Instead, the company now aims for electric vehicles to account for between 90% and 100% of its sales by that year.
