While 2,900 employees will lose their jobs on February 28th, 2025, when the last Audi Q8 e-tron will be made at Audi Brussels, Belgium’s only remaining car factory, Volvo Car Gent is looking for 350 new people to start building the EX30 in Europe.
Volvo announced in October last year its intention to build the low-cost EX30 at its Ghent factory. Assembly was projected to start in 2025, and the Ghent factory has been ramping up to meet the deadline since.
Starting Q2 2025
Currently, the Ghent factory in Belgium employs around 6,500 people and builds the models XC40, EX40, EC40, and V60. Volvo claims the EX30 is the third most popular EV in Europe, and it will roll off the assembly line in Q2 2025.
For that, Volvo Car Gent is looking for new people, both experienced and new starters, as long as “they are somewhat tech-savvy and at the same time have the right motivation and attitude.”
Volvo Car Gent and Randstad organize job days on various Saturdays in the spring spread across the HR service provider’s office network in East Flanders province to fill the vacancies.
The candidates are interviewed immediately, and there is also “a game element where they can show their practical skills,” Volvo states. After that, when selected, a final test will follow before the candidate can start in-house training as an operator. Volvo promises attractive wages (€18.50 per hour gross income and a shift premium) plus an attractive benefits package.
Governmental support
Volvo receives official support from the Flemish regional government for this training. “Thanks to our knowledge and flexible, highly skilled workforce, Flanders has built up a global reputation in the automotive industry,” says Flemish Minister-President Matthias Diependaele.
“We are supporting Volvo Car Gent in training suitable personnel to accelerate the production of the new EX30 model. The construction of this climate-friendly car model in Ghent not only creates hundreds of new jobs but is also strategically important for developing the Flemish economy in terms of vehicle electrification and innovative production processes.”
Is Polestar coming, too?
The EX30 is the third fully electric Volvo model to be produced in Europe, joining the XC40 and C40 models on the Ghent production line. In June last year, there were rumors that Ghent would also build the EX90 for the UK, but that was denied.
Meanwhile, sister brand Polestar also seeks European production capacity to avoid import taxes on Chinese-built cars. The Polestar 7 will be a compact SUV and an entry-level model, and several media outlets suggest it could be built on the SEA platform, which also underpins the Volvo EX30.
This could put the Belgian factory on the radar for assembling its first Polestar models in history. However, another candidate is Volvo’s plant, which is under construction in Slovakia. According to Volvo Car Gent spokeswoman Barbara Blomme, adding the EX30 will stretch the factory to its limits.
35 non-production days
In 2024, 186,313 cars were produced in Ghent, much less than the 230,527 built the previous year. However, the preparations required to convert production for the new EX30 model forced the Ghent factory to take about 35 non-production days.
In Belgium, Volvo has set a new sales record in 2024, selling 24,221 cars, a growth of 13.6% compared with 2023, and lifting the brand to sixth position in the top ten most popular brands. That growth was ‘fueled’ primarily by its electric cars, with fully electric BEVs accounting for 69%. Adding the plug-in hybrids, the figure for ‘electrified’ cars is 82%.
The new Volvo EX30, sold for the first time over a year with a starting price of €40,590, was the rising star, with 6,500 registrations. These cars all came from the Chengdu Plant in China. Now, Volvo Car Gent will provide the rest of the world with the EX30.
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