Volvo aims to invest $1 billion in South Carolina by 2030
Volvo aims to create 4,000 jobs and invest $1 billion at its Berkeley County automobile plant by 2030, according to the company’s contract with South Carolina officials.
The company must create 2,000 jobs in its first phase, by Dec. 31, 2023, and an initial investment of $600 million, according to that contract, obtained by The State newspaper through a Freedom of Information Act request.
In return, the company will get more then $200 million in incentives from the state, Berkeley County and the state-owned Santee Cooper utility.
Volvo also was promised:
▪ A six-month lease for a retail space along Charleston’s King Street for a Volvo brand store. The cost – up to $40,000 – will be paid by the Charleston Area Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.
▪ A display at the Charleston International Airport for a year at no cost. That commitment was promised by state Sen. Paul Campbell, R-Berkeley, director of the Charleston County Aviation Authority. “If we display a Volvo car at the airport,” Campbell said. “I think it’s nothing but good news.”
▪ A three-year sponsorship of a women’s tennis tournament – formerly known as the Family Circle Cup – held annually on Daniel Island. “Sponsorship opportunity includes, but is not limited to, national television advertising during the tournament, naming rights to the stadium, tournament signage and hospitality venues during the tournament weekend,” S.C. Parks, Recreations and Tourism Director Duane Parrish wrote in a letter to Volvo. The national TV exposure was valued at $3.5 million in 2014, the state said.
▪ Two options for temporary office space – a site near the Charleston airport and another near the plant site, in Nexton – for which the company would receive $400,000. Nexton is a new community in Summerville.
Volvo will produce all of its revamped S60 luxury sedans at its new S.C. plant, officials announced last week.
The new models will be exported worldwide. Volvo expects to build 57,000 cars a year when the plant is in full production and 100,000 a year when it is expanded in about a decade.
The company should begin hiring in late 2017 and expects to produce its first cars in 2018.
Reach Cope at (803) 771-8657.
Volvo incentives
South Carolina offered more than $200 million in incentives to win over automaker Volvo, including:
$123 million from the state Commerce Department, including $70 million that S.C. lawmakers allocated in the state budget
$30 million through pots of money that the state Commerce Department has access to, including its deal-closing fund
$54 million that the state-owned Santee Cooper utility is spending to buy the Berkeley County site, and in loans and grants
$5 million that Berkeley County will contribute to the land purchase
Multi-millions that Volvo will receive in tax credits, based on the number of jobs that it creates and the amount those jobs pay
Multi-millions that Volvo will save on its property taxes via a fee-in-lieu agreement with Berkeley County
$40,000 the Charleston Area Convention and Visitor’s Bureau will pay for a six-month lease for a King Street brand store
This story was originally published October 1, 2015 at 6:25 PM with the headline "Volvo aims to invest $1 billion in South Carolina by 2030."