U.S. chief wants to produce Volvos in America

If the Japanese, Koreans and Germans can build vehicles in the U.S., why not the Swedes? Vic Doolan, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars of North America, favors such a move.

“The U.S. is Volvo’s biggest market, and it [production here] would allow us to share technology [with parent Ford] as well as balance exchange rates between euros and dollars. It makes sense, which is why Mercedes and BMW are here,” Doolan said in an interview.

“Think about it,” said Joe Phillippi of AutoTrends, a New Jersey-based auto consulting firm. “Ford has excess capacity but by the nature of the contract with the UAW, it’s a problem to close a plant. Rather than go through that, as well as having to deal with exchange rates, it makes economic sense to move output of a Volvo vehicle to the U.S., especially because Volvo and Ford now share platforms.”

The 2005 Ford Five Hundred and Mercury Montego sedans and Ford Freestyle crossover, for example, are derived from Volvo’s XC90 sport-utility platform. And other platform sharing is expected. Volvos could keep a Ford plant at capacity.