Volvo Cars announced it will add a third working shift at its Torslanda, Gothenburg plant as demand for its new cars, including the XC90, is rising.

The expansion will take place in the first quarter of 2015 and will coincide with the start of production for the all-new XC90 SUV. The addition of a third shift means Volvo will create approximately 1,300 new jobs and follows the opening of an entirely new body shop which boosted the plant’s production capacity to 300,000 cars a year.

The move also means the total number of employees at Torslanda increases by almost 40 percent. The new Volvo XC90 is the first model based on the new Scalable Product Architecture (SPA), which will also underpin upcoming new Volvo models. The new platform and the expansion of the Torslanda plant are part of Volvo’s ongoing $11 billion investment program in new products and production capacity.

Volvo Cars’ global retail deliveries rose 9.2 percent during the first nine months of this year, with the company expecting full-year sales of approximately 470,000 cars. That would represent a 10 percent growth and an all-time high sales result for the company.

Deliveries from the Torslanda plant are expected to reach another all-time high in 2015, as the all-new Volvo XC90 SUV will likely grow the company’s sales volumes, creating a need for increased output from the Torslanda plant. The Torslanda plant currently produces the Volvo S60, S80, V60, V70, XC70 and XC90 models.

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