Volvo Trucks postpones start of construction of battery factory in Mexico

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Sweden’s Volvo, a global leader in electric trucks, said it will delay the start of construction of its planned battery factory in Monterrey in northern Mexico.

It was not yet clear whether this would also delay the start of production, a spokesman said in an emailed comment to Reuters on Thursday evening.

“We are looking at what would be an optimal timeline for the construction of the plant. What we know now is that the start of construction will be 12-24 months later than the previous plan (2025),” the spokesperson said.

“We don’t know if this will change the production start/series production in any way, but the aim is to scale up production in line with demand for battery electric applications and not to set up a much larger operation than the market,” he said.

Volvo is currently running the process independently but is in talks with potential partners, he added.

Last month, Volvo announced that it had chosen Monterrey as the location for its new $700 million North American truck factory, due to be operational in 2026.

The company has stated that the facility is essential to supporting its North American growth strategy as it provides the industrial capacity needed to meet increasing demand.

(Reporting by Stine Jacobsen, editing by Terje Solsvik)