Volvo Car Gent (until 2007 known as Volvo Cars Europe Industry N.V.) is an automobile manufacturer located in the port district of Ghent/Gent in western Belgium. By about 2013 the Ghent plant had become the Volvo plant manufacturing most cars. [2] [3] The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Swedish automaker Volvo Personvagnar AB (Volvo Cars). It is owned by Volvo Car Belgium NV. Its activities comprise welding, painting and final assembly. The plant became the only car manufacturing plant in Flanders after Ford Genk closed at the end of 2014. [2]
The plant opened in 1965. It was the first European Volvo plant outside Sweden. The Ghent location was chosen because it was centrally positioned within the EEC and was supported by a good transport infrastructure.
The first Volvo produced in Ghent was the company’s 120 Series (120/121/122, later 130), also known as Amazon. In September 2012 the plant was producing the Volvo C30, Volvo V40, Volvo S60 and Volvo XC60 models, of which the XC60 was the top seller, thanks in part to tax advantages available in certain key markets for the DRIVe version. In 2011 the company was hoping to match the 258,000 units of output achieved in 2005, the plant’s top production year till that point.
In 2015 the Ghent plant employed about 5,400 people. [4] Volvo Car Gent produced 252,479 cars (XC60, V40 and S60) in 2015. In 2017 Volvo Car Gent started to produce the first new vehicle on the CMA platform (Compact Modular Architecture), the XC40. [4] [5]
In 2020, the Ghent plant began to produce Volvo's first mass-market electric car, the XC40 Recharge. In 2021, the electric-only C40 began production at Gent.
The city of Ghent is also home to a Volvo truck plant. This plant is part of Volvo Group Belgium and, apart from the Volvo brand name, is no longer linked to the car activities in Belgium. This plant was formerly known as Volvo Europa Truck.
In November 2016 the 6th million car was produced.
The Volvo Group is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distribution and sale of trucks, buses and construction equipment, Volvo also supplies marine and industrial drive systems and financial services. In 2016, it was the world's second-largest manufacturer of heavy-duty trucks with its subsidiary Volvo Trucks.
DAF Trucks is a Dutch truck manufacturing company and a division of Paccar. DAF originally stood for van Doorne's Aanhangwagen Fabriek. Its headquarters and main plant are in Eindhoven. Cabs and axle assemblies are produced at its Westerlo plant in Belgium. Some of the truck models sold with the DAF brand are designed and built by Leyland Trucks at its Leyland plant in the United Kingdom.
Volvo Car AB, trading as Volvo Cars is a Swedish multinational manufacturer of luxury vehicles. Volvo is headquartered in Torslanda, Gothenburg. The company manufactures SUVs, station wagons, and sedans. The company's main marketing revolves around safety and its Swedish heritage and design.
The Volvo S60 is a compact executive car manufactured and marketed by Volvo since 2000.
The Volvo XC60 is a compact luxury crossover SUV manufactured and marketed by Swedish automaker Volvo Cars since 2008.
The Volvo S40 is a series of subcompact executive cars marketed and produced by the Swedish manufacturer Volvo Cars from 1995 to 2012, offered as a more mainstream alternative to the compact executive Volvo S60 to compete in a lower pricing bracket. The S40 was more or less positioned against premium-leaning small family cars like the Volkswagen Jetta as well as some mass-market large family cars.
The SI6 is a family of straight-six engines developed by Volvo and used by Land Rover and Volvo.
Geartronic is Volvo Cars' name for its manumatic automatic transmission, similar to Porsche's Tiptronic. It is available in 4-, 5-, 6-, and 8-speed models, and is controlled by a microprocessor. The microprocessor automatically shifts to the next gear if a user in manual mode red lines the engine. Manual shifting is allowed with the gear stick in the manual mode. The gear stick can also be used just like any other automatic gearbox, where the transmission will shift automatically.
The Volvo V60 is a compact executive station wagon produced by Volvo Cars related to the S60 executive sedan. The vehicle was first released in autumn 2010, facelifted in 2014, and is in its second generation since 2018.
Volvo Car Manufacturing Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. (VCMM) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sweden-based Volvo Car Corporation. The company was established in September 1966 through a joint venture between AB Volvo and the Federal Auto Company Sdn. Bhd..
The automotive industry in Sweden is mainly associated with passenger car manufacturers Volvo Cars and Saab Automobile but Sweden is also home of two of the largest truck manufacturers in the world: AB Volvo and Scania AB. The automotive industry is heavily dependent on export as some 85 percent of the passenger cars and 95 percent of the heavy vehicles are sold outside of Sweden. The automotive industry and its sub-contractors is a major part of Swedish industry. In 2011 around 110,000 people were employed and the export income of 150 billion SEK accounted for 12 per cent of Sweden's export income. During 2009 128,738 passenger cars and 27,698 heavy vehicles were built in Sweden. Koenigsegg is also a famous Swedish company which makes some of the fastest cars in the world, but also some of the most expensive. They currently produce models such as the Jesko, Gemera, and CC850.
Volvo Trucks is a truck manufacturing division of Volvo based in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The Aisin AW F8FXX series is the world's first 8-speed automatic transmission designed for use in transverse engine applications. Aisin designed the transmission to package in the same space as preceding 6-speed designs, while increasing the total gear spread and reducing gear spacing. It is also called the EAT8 (PSA), GA8F22AW, TG-81SC (Volvo), AF50-8 (Opel/Vauxhall), AWF8F45 (Cadillac), and AQ450 (Volkswagen Group). First usage was in the 2013 model year Lexus RX350 F Sport.
The Volvo Engine Architecture (VEA) is a family of straight-three and straight-four automobile petrol and diesel engines produced by Volvo Cars in Skövde, Sweden, since 2013, Zhangjiakou, China since 2016 and Tanjung Malim, Malaysia since 2022 by Proton. Volvo markets all engines under the Drive–E designation, while Geely groups the three-cylinder variants with its other engines under the G-power name. These engines are some of the few ever put into production as twincharged engines, in the company of the Lancia Delta S4 and concept Jaguar CX-75.
The Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) is a global mid-size unibody automobile platform, developed by China Euro Vehicle Technology AB (CEVT), a Swedish subsidiary to Geely.
Lynk & Co is a Chinese–Swedish automobile brand co-owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding and its subsidiaries, Geely Auto Group and Volvo Cars. The brand was founded in Gothenburg in 2016.
The Lynk & Co 01 is a compact crossover SUV manufactured by Geely-owned Chinese-Swedish automaker Lynk & Co. It was the first model for Lynk & Co and it was developed by China Euro Vehicle Technology AB (CEVT), a Swedish subsidiary to Geely.
The Volvo XC40 is a subcompact luxury crossover SUV (C-segment) manufactured by Volvo Cars. It was unveiled on 21 September 2017 as the smallest SUV model from Volvo, below the XC60. Orders started in September 2017, and manufacturing began in November 2017.
The Volvo EX30 is a battery electric subcompact crossover SUV manufactured by Volvo Cars. Revealed in June 2023, the EX30 is the smallest Volvo vehicle currently on sale, positioned below the XC40 and C40 crossovers. It is produced in China and is related to the Zeekr X and the Smart #1, which are similar in size and developed from Geely's SEA platform. The vehicle will be exported globally.