Volvos Made in Belgium?

Discussion in 'General Motoring' started by Dave Hollander, Feb 16, 2004.

  1. Was working under the hood of my 1984 242 and looked at the ID plate for
    the first time and was shocked to see "Made in Belgium"

    I always thought all Volvos were made in Sweden. Were they made anywhere
    else besides Sweden and Belgium?

    Dave

    ***********************************************************
    Dave N7RK Home Page: http://members.cox.net/n7rk
    Phoenix, Arizona *DXCC Honor Roll* *WAZ#23 - 75 Meter SSB*

    ex-XE2/N7RK, N7RK/ZB2, VK2ERK, ZM0AJN, WB6NRK, WN6IWX

    Boatanchor and Antique Radio Collector Extraordinaire preferring
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    Dave Hollander, Feb 16, 2004
    #1
  2. Dave Hollander

    RobertV Guest

    C70, C70 cabrio in Finland
     
    RobertV, Feb 16, 2004
    #2
  3. my wife's 88 turbo made in Sweden, mine a 90 turbo made in Belgium
     
    John Robertson, Feb 16, 2004
    #3
  4. Dave Hollander

    Rob Guenther Guest

    Didn't they assemble some cars in Halifax, Canada up till the mid 90s?
     
    Rob Guenther, Feb 16, 2004
    #4
  5. Dave Hollander

    Mike F Guest

    Up to late 1998, just before the takeover by Ford was announced. I
    wonder if closing that plant was a little dirty deed that had to be done
    by Volvo before the deeper pocketed Ford was responsible? Also
    according to my pocket data book, there are (were) assembly plants in
    Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines.

    --
    Mike F.
    Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

    NOTE: new address!!
    Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
    (But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)
     
    Mike F, Feb 16, 2004
    #5
  6. Dave Hollander

    William Liao Guest

    Volvo also had an assembly line in Australia, from 1972 to 1988. I think
    the assembly line actually belongs to Nissan, Volvo just rented it.

    My 740 also came out of the Belgium factory, and I'm happy with it.
    Belgium's renowned for its high quality of glasswork, and the window glass
    on my 740 are made in Belgium too :)
    _________________
    Will
    '90 Volvo 744 GLT
    B230F converted to B230FB (531 Head & VX3 Cam)
     
    William Liao, Feb 16, 2004
    #6
  7. Dave Hollander

    Bev A. Kupf Guest

    Volvo also made cars in the Netherlands.
     
    Bev A. Kupf, Feb 16, 2004
    #7
  8. Dave Hollander

    Oliver Herms Guest

    Yes, iirc the 440, 460 and 480 series are born in Born :)
    Maybe not all of them...

    Oliver
     
    Oliver Herms, Feb 16, 2004
    #8
  9. Born, Holland. The Volvo BV plant came into Volvo ownership when the
    company acquired a 75% stake in DAF's car division. Volvo had started
    negotiations with DAF as early as 1969, and gained its controlling
    interest after a series of financial moves. In 1976, DAF's four-cylinder
    Variomatic-transmission 66 model became a Volvo, heralding the
    introduction of the rather mundane 340 series. By 1981, the Dutch
    government had invested sufficient capital in the company to reduce
    Volvo's stake to a 30% share.

    The Volvo 480ES, introduced in 1986, was a front-drive hatchback which
    was conceptually rather similar to the P1800 ES. The 480 used a 1.7
    Renault engine, and was built in the Netherlands at the Volvo BV plant.

    In 1988 Volvo introduced the Volvo 440 - an important new model in the
    intermediate class and developed by Volvo Car B.V. in Holland. Its
    roadholding and safety in particular were acclaimed by the press, as was
    the generous amount of space inside the car.

    In 1995 Volvo unveiled a completely new vehicle family while stepping up
    development efforts on new products. The compact Volvo S40/V40 - the
    first cars to emerge from the joint venture with Mitsubishi - were
    presented during the year. Volvo and Mitsubishi were now building
    completely different car models at the Born Plant, using the same
    production equipment. In order to release capacity at the Born Plant,
    production of the Volvo 480 was discontinued. In November, the last car
    in the Volvo 400 Series was manufactured, after production of almost
    700,000 units since 1985.

    Volvo's previous S40 continues to be built at Born, Holland until spring
    2004, and its demise after that signals the end of Volvo's Dutch
    connection which began with DAF. The new S40 and its forthcoming V50
    estate version, which share nothing at all with their predecessors, are
    to be built in Ghent, Belgium.
     
    Stephen M. Henning, Feb 16, 2004
    #9
  10. Dave Hollander

    John Horner Guest

    The Ghent, Belgium plant has been around a long time. Volvo also used to
    assemble cars in Canada, but I think they shut that down with the end of the
    rear wheel drive generation.

    Smaller Volvos have long been made in Holland as a result of the purchase of
    the DAF company years ago.

    John
     
    John Horner, Feb 16, 2004
    #10
  11. Yes, they were made in Nova Scotia until Christmas 1999 I think. There may
    have been an assembly point in Asia/Australia, too.
     
    Jeff Lesperance, Feb 17, 2004
    #11
  12. Dave Hollander

    Aleric Guest

    My '95 944t was assembled in Halifax, Canada. They closed the plant a few
    years later ('98 I think). Unions, labor disputes, etc. contributed to the
    plant's closure. However, according to Volvo (officially), there were other
    factors involved as well.
     
    Aleric, Feb 17, 2004
    #12
  13. Dave Hollander

    metaxaman Guest

    Volvo 66
    Volvo 340/360
    Volvo 440/460/480
    Volvo S40/V40 (will be produced until June 300, 2004)

    Those models were made in the Netherlands: Well over 2 million in total.

    Regards,
     
    metaxaman, Feb 17, 2004
    #13
  14. What will happen to the plant after that? Also - weren't some 240s made
    in that plant as well? The cars from that plant seem to be made pretty
    well - so a V40 should be a good car to consider. I just wish they had
    the turbo-4 in stickshift available over here.
     
    Joseph Oberlander, Feb 17, 2004
    #14
  15. Dave Hollander

    Bev A. Kupf Guest

    I don't know if any 240s were made in Born. I think Mitsubishis will be
    made in the plant.
     
    Bev A. Kupf, Feb 17, 2004
    #15
  16. Dave Hollander

    John Horner Guest

    I suspect that Volvo didn't want to spend the money to switch over the low
    volume Canadian factory to the new front wheel drive designs. There is
    probably a significant amount of tooling and machinery cost in doing so.

    John
     
    John Horner, Feb 17, 2004
    #16
  17. Sorry, but you're wrong about C70. They are all built in Uddevalla, Sweden.
    In the beginning by the partly owned TWR controlled Autonova plant. Later on
    Volvo took 100% control of the Uddevalla plant. The next Volvo cabrio will
    be produced in Uddevalla by a joint venture between Volvo and Pininfarina.
    Saab cabrios was previously built by Valmet in Finland. Now they use Magna
    Steyr in Austria to build their new 9-3 cabrio.
    Rgds,
    Carl
     
    Carl / Sweden, Feb 18, 2004
    #17
  18. Dave Hollander

    Mike F Guest

    My front drive 1998 V70 was assembled in Halifax, as was my father's
    1994 850 Turbo. I'd bet the real reason was it was too small to fit
    into Ford's plans, as it was shut down just before Ford took over Volvo
    cars.

    --
    Mike F.
    Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

    NOTE: new address!!
    Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
    (But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)
     
    Mike F, Feb 20, 2004
    #18
  19. Dave Hollander

    Rusty Guest

    I have an 87 760Ti wagon. The 740's were assembled in Dartmouth (Halifax)
    but the more luxurious and complex (climate control, interior, power
    everything) 760 was assembled in Sweden. Apparently they felt that they
    needed more control over the assembly of the (at that time ) flagship
    model...just a guess.

    RS
     
    Rusty, Feb 21, 2004
    #19
  20. Dave Hollander

    Guest Guest

    My 1992 Volvo 740 wagon was made in Belgium with all kinds of hardware from
    Sweden, Germany, England, France, and even Japan (electrical).

    My 1962 Porsche Roadster was also made in Belgium. The body, that is, which
    was then shipped to Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen.

    John
     
    Guest, Feb 21, 2004
    #20
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