Saying that new car sales in Europe are declining is the understatement of the year. Naturally, all manufacturers are trying to deal with this situation – some by forming alliances or joint ventures and others by closing down plants and laying off workers.

Volvo, on its behalf, announced today that it has decided to halt production at its Torslanda plant in Sweden from October 29 until November 2 due to reduced demand for its products.

The company’s latest action is in addition to an earlier decision to reduce the production pace in the Torslanda plant from 57 cars to 50 cars per hour, which came into effect on October 1.

“Europe is the main market for Volvo Car Corporation and the continued recession is naturally affecting demand for our cars”, said Volvo acting President, CEO and CFO Jan Gurander. “Against this background, it is essential for us to continue to use the built-in flexibility we have within our manufacturing system.”

The company said that, apart from putting its employees on leave with pay for said period, there won’t be any changes to its plants’ workforce.

By Andrew Tsaousis

PHOTO GALLERY

Volvo-Torslanda-Plant-1Volvo-Torslanda-Plant-2Volvo-Torslanda-Plant-3Volvo-Torslanda-Plant-4Volvo-Torslanda-Plant-5