Volvo continues to double down on its American strategy. The Swedish automaker, renowned for building some of the safest cars on the road, has just confirmed continued investment at its Ridgeville, South Carolina facility, a site where it has already poured $1.3 billion into over the past decade. That sizeable investment has given the 2.3-million square-feet plant an annual production capacity of 150,000 cars, a figure that Volvo would want to see fully realized.
Right now, the Ridgeville site already builds the fully electric EX90 SUV and Polestar 3. But adding the popular XC60 to the production line in the United States will further ramp up operations. Currently, the imported XC60 already accounts for over a third of Volvo’s U.S. sales (27,000 units in the first eight months of 2025, a 20 percent increase from 2025), with nearly a quarter of those coming from hybrids. Globally, with 2.7 million units delivered, the XC60 also overtook the iconic 240 wagon to become Volvo’s best-seller of all time, something we reported on last month.
Localizing production for a model with that kind of weight is vital to stay competitive in the lucrative mid-size to compact SUV space, mostly dominated by German automakers, like BMW and Mercedes-Benz. For Volvo, building the XC60 in South Carolina would mean shorter delivery times, potentially more competitive pricing compared to imports, and less risk of disruption from tariffs or shipping bottlenecks.
Earlier this year, in April, the U.S. raised tariffs on imports for a wide range of products, including autos, with some of the highest numbers on China. Volvo, owned by Chinese automaker Geely, has largely avoided direct impact by sourcing its U.S.-bound cars from Europe ( the XC60 is currenty manufactured at Volvo’s Torslanda plant in Sweden and Ghent facility in Belgium), a region with which President Trump reached a trade agreement, towards the end of July.
“The XC60 is the right car for this market. It offers the best of Volvo in a versatile size with the powertrain options to suit our U.S. customers.” - Volvo Americas President Luis Rezende.
This is why moving manufacturing closer to where the customers are is increasingly becoming a priority for manufacturers. Volvo’s Ridgeville plant features a revamped body and paint shop, a new battery-pack line, and the ability to produce multiple platforms. That’s key because the XC60 will be built in both mild-hybrid and plug-in hybrid configurations, expanding Volvo’s U.S. range besides its expanding fully electric offerings.
With more than 5 million cars sold since 1955, and with Volvo celebrating 70 years in America, the decision to build its best-seller in South Carolina shows a deeper commitment to the region and beyond. But the XC60 isn’t the only piece of the puzzle, because Volvo has also confirmed that before 2030, a next-generation hybrid designed specifically for the U.S. market will join the production line in South Carolina.
That’s part of the company’s bigger push toward regional tailoring, where each sales region gets vehicles, technologies, and manufacturing strategies optimized to local demands. For American customers, that means Ridgeville won’t just be an assembly site, but a base for cars engineered with U.S. preferences in mind.
Source: Volvo
