Volvo to nix the C70, and the plant it's manufactured in as well

Volvo will take sole ownership of the Uddevalla plant in 2013, and thanks to slow sales volume of the C70, it will end the model and shut down the plant too.

Volvo will end production of the C70 and C70 hardtop convertible, as well as shutter the Uddevalla plant that builds it, according to a recent Volvo press release. The plant, which is co-owned by famous Italian coachbuilder Pininfarina who helps Volvo build the C70, will be under the sole ownership of Volvo in 2013, and since the plant is only operating at 65 percent capacity (when most automotive plants need to be operating at about 80 percent to stay profitable), Volvo sees no option but to shut it down.

Volvo president and CEO Stefan Jacoby said "A car manufacturer of Volvo's size cannot, from a financial standpoint, justify a plant that manufactures one single model in the low volumes we have today." Approximately 600 employees at the Uddevalla plant built 10,000 cars in 2010, and those employess will be offered jobs in Volvo's main headquarters in Gothenburg or in some of the other Volvo plants elsewhere around Sweden.

Volvo has not announced plans to replace the C70 as of yet, as their focus will shift toward fuel-efficient, four-cylinder, four-door sedans and coupes, as well as doubling annual sales to 800,000 cars by 2020. Jacoby did have this to say about a future Volvo convertible, however: "We will now look into when a next generation Volvo convertible can be on the market and where it should be manufactured." Volvo, which was sold to the Chinese Zhejiang Geely Holding Group by Ford in 2010, plans up to invest up to $11 billion to expand into growing markets like China over the next five years.