The Immigrants

Advertisements in the U.S. for Sweden's Volvo heavily stress not only the car's design but also its high-quality Swedish workmanship, which purportedly helps drivers survive the rigors of Scandinavian winters and tough traffic laws. That ad campaign is soon destined for a trip back to the old drawing fjord. Last week Volvo announced plans to build a $100 million assembly plant in Chesapeake, Va., that will turn out some 30,000 cars annually by 1976 and 100,000 a year after 1980 -all that it will need for the U.S. market (1972 U.S. sales: 54,000 units). Volvo will thus become the first foreign car manufacturer to build its autos in the U.S. The company will eventually hire some 3,000 members of the United Auto Workers.

Volvo President Pehr Gyllenhammar, the jaunty 38-year-old lawyer who took over command of Sweden's biggest industrial concern (annual sales: $1.5 billion) from his father-in-law in January 1973, insisted that his company had been considering the U.S. plant for many months and had not been influenced by the current world monetary disarray. However, Volvo may well profit from the money tangle. As the value of many currencies (including Sweden's krona) has continued to rise against the dollar -and as foreign labor costs have continued to mount -the once huge gap between U.S. and other countries' wages has narrowed. Other foreign automakers are only a few steps behind Volvo. Last week Volkswagen officials acknowledged that they are studying the feasibility of a U.S. assembly plant, and big Japanese builders like Datsun and Mazda are also reported to be interested.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.