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SWEDISH automotive giant Volvo has raced into Brisbane, with the launch of a $30 million headquarters and dealership in Wacol.
Volvo Group Australia will set up shop at Metroplex Westgate business park, near its assembly plant which registered more than 2000 Volvo and Mack trucks last year.
Volvo Group president and CEO Martin Lundstedt says the company has been building trucks in Brisbane for more than 40 years, making it the perfect base for the Australian division.
"Wacol is the largest truck assembly plant in Australia and its dedicated workforce has enabled Volvo Group Australia to become the largest truck-builder in the country," Lundstedt says.
"I appreciate that manufacturing in Australia has been in decline for a number of years, as it has in many other countries, but the outlook for our business is strong.
"We've invested more than $27 million in Volvo Group assembly plant in recent years. That's a sign of our great confidence in the Australian business."
As well as the new national headquarters, the project will include a new VCV Brisbane South dealership and paint and panel workshop.
Around 320 people will relocate from other Volvo sites in the area to the new development. More than 550 employees will continue to work at Volvo Group Australia's five other sites in Wacol.
Volvo Group Australia president Peter Voorhoeve says local manufacturing is a competitive advantage in Australia.
The group has a 26.2 per cent share of the national truck market, larger than any of its competitors.
"Australia is the toughest trucking environment in the world and it makes sense for us to build locally the specific trucks that the market demands," Voorhoeve says.
"In Australia, trucks carry heavier loads for longer distances and in higher temperatures than anywhere else in the world.
"Our team has obviously developed a great understanding of what the Australian transport industry needs and the investment being made here demonstrates how positive we are about the future."
The new headquarters and Brisbane South dealership are due to open in late-2017.
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