Volvo Cars broke floor final Friday on a brand new technical heart particularly for electrical automobiles at its U.S. headquarters in Mahwah, New Jersey.
The 12,800-square-foot (1,190 square-meter) facility is anticipated to open subsequent March and might be used to coach dealership technicians from the U.S., Canada and South America.
Anders Gustafsson, Volvo’s senior vice chairman of the Americas and president of Volvo Car USA, declined to say how a lot the automaker is investing within the new coaching heart, however indicated it’s a main undertaking. The heart might be positioned on a 20-acre (8.1 hectare) parcel of land and have 50 charging stations. Some of these charging stations might ultimately be made accessible to the general public.
Gustafsson, talking by way of video with Automotive News, stated the coaching heart is important to Volvo’s plans to transition to an all-EV future.
The firm’s 280 U.S. dealerships, he stated, are quick roughly 200 technicians.
“We need to attract new technicians. The industry is struggling,” Gustafsson stated. “We have decided now is the time to take care of everything that is related to customer service.”
Volvo final summer time introduced a $118 million funding in its Ridgeville, South Carolina, meeting plant to construct EVs, together with automobiles for the Polestar efficiency model and an electrical model of the XC90 crossover’s unnamed successor. The firm plans to go electric-only by 2030.
“If we as a manufacturer don’t invest in a facility where our technicians are going to work, I can tell you that our dealers will not do it either. So, this is a cultural approach,” Gustafsson stated. “They — our dealer partners — have done an excellent job, but I see that some are a little bit behind. Now it is time to take those steps.”
The new facility might be Volvo’s sixth technical coaching heart in North America.
Source: europe.autonews.com
