Volvos Made in Belgium?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dave Hollander
  • Start date Start date
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Dave Hollander

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
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my wife's 88 turbo made in Sweden, mine a 90 turbo made in Belgium
 
Didn't they assemble some cars in Halifax, Canada up till the mid 90s?
 
Rob said:
Didn't they assemble some cars in Halifax, Canada up till the mid 90s?
Click to expand...

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.)
 
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)
 
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 :)
Click to expand...

Volvo also made cars in the Netherlands.
 
Bev said:
Volvo also made cars in the Netherlands.
Click to expand...

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

Oliver
 
Dave Hollander said:
I always thought all Volvos were made in Sweden. Were they made anywhere
else besides Sweden and Belgium?
Click to expand...

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.
 
Dave Hollander said:
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?
Click to expand...

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
 
Yes, they were made in Nova Scotia until Christmas 1999 I think. There may
have been an assembly point in Asia/Australia, too.
 
Rob Guenther said:
Didn't they assemble some cars in Halifax, Canada up till the mid 90s?
Click to expand...

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

Oliver
Click to expand...

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 said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
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.
Click to expand...

I don't know if any 240s were made in Born. I think Mitsubishis will be
made in the plant.
 
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.
Click to expand...

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
 
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
 
John said:
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
Click to expand...

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.)
 
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
 
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
 
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