Millionth XC40 rolled off the production line at Volvo Car Gent (Ghent)

Unveiled in September 2017 at an event in Milan, the Volvo XC40 was Volvo’s very first small premium SUV. It immediately became a bestseller and won the prestigious ‘European Car of the Year’ award in 2018, as the first Volvo model ever. Since 2020, the XC40 has also been available as a fully electric version, renamed EX40 earlier this year. Approximately 175,000 of the latter have already been built. Since its introduction, the 40 series has always been in the top 3 of best-selling Volvos. Only bigger brother XC60 did better last year.

Volvo Car Gent in the port of Ghent employs 6,500 people. This makes the car factory the largest industrial employer in East Flanders. In 2023, a total of 230,527 cars rolled off the production line. The factory builds the V60, XC40/EX40 and EC40 models. Next year the fully electric EX30, a small SUV, will also be added. (krs)