Volvo EX30 rolls of the line in Ghent

Volvo’s factory in Ghent has just started production of the fully electric EX30. The model was previously only built in China, but the Belgian factory will now support production capacity for European sales.

The plant of the Geely-owned Swedish car manufacturer will also begin producing the EX30 Cross Country later in 2025. Volvo states that bringing the EX30 to its Ghent plant will create around 350 additional jobs.

It is located on the outskirts of the Belgian city of Ghent, near the port. It is one of two Volvo car manufacturing plants in Europe. In 2024, it produced just over 186,000 cars. The other plant is near the Swedish city of Gothenburg, where Volvo’s headquarters are also situated.

Production in Ghent has included other fully electric models, such as the EX40 and the EC40, until now. With the Torslanda, Sweden plant, Volvo produces 10 different electric and hybrid car models across Europe. Rumors also abound that the company plans to build the EX90 at the Ghent factory soon.

New platform from Geely

The EX30 is Volvo’s cheapest electric car and also one of its most popular. It’s based on the Geely SEA platform, while Volvo has only built vehicles in Ghent on the CMA and SPA platforms.

This means the Ghent plant has had to be modified to accommodate the new platform. Volvo has said that this required the introduction or replacement of 600 robots, an expansion of the battery hall, a new door production line, and a new battery pack assembly line.

The EX30, which is one of Volvo’s best-selling EVs, was previously assembled at the Geely plant in Zhangjiakou in China and shipped worldwide. However, following a decision in October 2023 to increase EU production capacity, Volvo began preparing its Ghent plant to assemble the EX30.

The company invested approximately €200 million over the last few years, an investment quickly vindicated after EU tariffs on Chinese-built EVs came into force in 2024. Volvo also opened a battery assembly plant in Ghent in 2022 to support the expansion.

Build where you sell

“The EX30 is crucial for us as we continue to strengthen our position in the premium EV market in Europe,” commented Francesca Gamboni, chief manufacturing and supply chain officer for Volvo Cars.

“Investing in the European production of the EX30 in Ghent perfectly aligns with our long-held strategy to build our cars where they sell best. Our flexible global footprint contributes to our resilience, allowing us to adjust our manufacturing plans with agility,” she added.

Stefan Fesser, manager of the Ghent plant, contributed: “Following a decision in autumn 2023 to bring production of the EX30 to Ghent, we were able to industrialise the new model in record time.”

“Thanks to the engagement and collaboration of the entire Ghent team, we cut the industrialisation time in half. Today, we are extremely proud to welcome the EX30 and demonstrate the new technology and innovation that enable us to react more flexibly to market demands,” he concluded.

With the slogan ‘build where you sell’, many things can be proven in the automotive world, sometimes in complete contradiction. Following this reasoning, Audi closed its factory in Brussels to move the production of the next Q8 to Mexico.

Other factories have been closing in Belgium over the last two decades. In fact, there’s only one plant anymore, building cars, and a few assembling trucks. A commonly used reason is the high labor cost in countries like this—a knockdown argument that is easily used without considering other parameters. In fact, everybody knows that labor cost is not the most critical factor when it comes to assembling cars.

By moving part of the production of the EX30 to Ghent, Volvo is proving the opposite. Renault also manufactures its new electric vehicles in Douai, Northern France, instead of countries with lower labor costs.

People like Geert Bruyneel, Volvo’s manufacturing guru, or Luca de Meo, Renault Group’s CEO, will tell you that organization and productivity matter most. And now that the American president and his peers could start a real trade war in the automotive sector, it becomes more interesting again to produce and sell locally.

Also, here, it’s the Chinese who set the new standards, as they react faster to the ever-changing conditions in a sector where almost everything is changing. The European car manufacturers who decide to hang on are now intensely looking towards the East.