Volvo Cars pushes back large-scale production at new Slovak plant to early 2027

By Marie Mannes

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -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 spokesperson said the decision was not made recently, but declined to comment on when it was taken.

The Gothenburg-based company, owned by China's Geely Holding, has not stated publicly which car will be produced at the plant in Kosice, but said on Tuesday it would be a next-generation Volvo model.

Earlier on Thursday, Polestar, also owned by Geely, said in a separate statement that 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, such as Polestar.

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," Samuelsson told analysts in April.

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.

The Swede, who ran Volvo for over a decade until 2022, has been clear that he wants Volvo to become closer to the other Geely brands and utilise their supply chain in an effort to save costs.

(Reporting by Marie Mannes. Writing by Nick Carey. Editing by Susan Fenton and Mark Potter)