Pininfarina Sverige AB, a joint venture company between Pininfarina (60 percent) and Volvo Cars (40 percent), was celebrated last weekend by the opening its plants to the press and the employees’ families. The special host of the occasion was Andrea Pininfarina, the Chairman and CEO Pininfarina Group, together with Renato Bertrandi (Managing Director Pininfarina Sverige) and Walter Fortgens (COO Pininfarina Sverige) and Silvio Angori (COO Pininfarina S.p.A.).

In 2003 a new company was formed in the joint venture and the base was established in Uddevalla, Sweden. This new company, which was called "Pininfarina Sverige AB," is responsible for all operations at the Uddevalla plant, including project management, process engineering, prototyping and testing services. Pininfarina is the majority owner with 60 percent and Volvo Car Corporation holds the remaining 40 percent. The top management structure is a combination of Pininfarina and Volvo executives.

From the financial standpoint, the C70 project called for a financial request of 275 million euros and a Pininfarina investment of about 40 million euros.

The Uddevalla plant, located on the shores of the North Sea just a few kilometers from Goteborg, has a long and complex history behind it. Set up after the war to build ships, it started to construct cars only in 1996. Pininfarina contributed to completing the conversion of the “satellite” type system used previously to the assembly line approach. Today, it has a total surface area of more than 490,000 sq. m of which 95,300 sq. m of buildings, with more than 800 employees and a production capacity of 20,000 vehicles a year.The various production phases of the Volvo C70 are carried out at Uddevalla: assembly and painting of the body and roof; installation of the mechanicals and trimming of the cabin; tests on the finished vehicle on an in-house track and release of the vehicle ready for delivery to the customer. The standard tooling of assembly line production is used, suitably adapted to the plant and with wide-scale use of laser welding when constructing the bodyshell. Carry-over components are furnished by the Ghent Belgium plant; Volvo Car and Body Components, around 400 km from Uddevalla, furnishes body-in-white parts and external panels; other minor suppliers operate in other European countries. Pininfarina Sverige is responsible for final quality.

Pininfarina Sverige AB also includes RHTU Sverige AB, a controlled company with about 70 employees specialized in manufacturing retractable hard tops for the Volvo C70. "We are proud of the results achieved by Pininfarina Sverige," added Andrea Pininfarina. "In terms of the result before taxes, Pininfarina Sverige AB provided a quarterly positive contribution that was significantly better than expected and it is supposed to be much better in the next few months. Our investment in Sweden," concluded Pininfarina, "shows that, with courage, will of innovation and flexibility, it is still possible to create profitability and employment in the automotive sector."

Celebrations included the launch of the brand new web site of Pininfarina Sverige, with highlights on the company, a glance on the plants, updated news and everything you need to know about the Volvo C70.