Volvo Planning To Max Out South Carolina Factory Production

Volvo Cars is pumping more money into its South Carolina manufacturing operation, signaling confidence in American-built vehicles and the growing demand for luxury SUVs in the U.S. market.

The automaker has already invested $1.3 billion into its Ridgeville plant outside Charleston over the past decade, and now its planning to keep the money coming to reach “full utilization” in the coming years.

Right now, the facility can crank out 150,000 vehicles annually and currently builds the all-electric EX90 SUV and the Polestar 3 for both domestic and export markets. But Volvo isn’t stopping there.

Earlier this year it announced it would start building its best-selling XC60 SUV at the facility starting in late 2026. Volvo sold 27,000 XC60s through the first eight months of 2025 – a nearly 20% jump over the same period in 2024.

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“Our investment plans once again reinforce our long-term commitment to the US market and our manufacturing operations in South Carolina,” CEO Håkan Samuelsson said in a news release. The company is celebrating 70 years of selling cars in America, with over five million vehicles delivered to U.S. customers so far.

Volvo also plans to add a brand-new hybrid model to the South Carolina production line before 2030 that will be specifically designed to meet what American customers want. Details are still under wraps.

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The move fits Volvo’s broader strategy of building vehicles closer to where they sell them, which is timely given the new tariff environment in the U.S.

“The Charleston plant is foundational to our strategic growth plan for the US,” Luis Rezende, Volvo’s president of Americas said. “By adding another model into production here, we’ll take a big step toward realising the full potential of our local manufacturing investments.”