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Volvo Plans to Hire 200 to Boost Production of SUV

Automaker Volvo plans to hire 200 more workers to boost production of its lauded and brisk-selling XC90 sport utility vehicle, a spokesman said Tuesday.

"Our sales have exceeded our expectations which means we have to increase production," Volvo Car Corp. spokesman Christer Gustafsson told The Associated Press.

He said the Ford Motor Co.-owned car maker had raised this year's production target for the XC90 to 60,000 cars from 50,000 and is considering increasing that goal by another 5,000 cars.

The car, Volvo's first sport utility vehicle, has drawn critical and consumer praise. Earlier this month, it was named the 2003 North American Truck of the Year at the North American Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan. In October, it was named Motor Trend Magazine's SUV of the year. The vehicle retails for about US$35,000.

Compounding the demand was the loss of 350 XC90s when a freighter carrying them sank in the English Channel in December.

Delivery times for the XC90 are already long. Buyers in Sweden have to wait as long as a year to acquire the four-wheel drive SUV.

The plant in Goteborg, 480 kilometers (300 miles) southwest of Stockholm, hired 400 workers last year for the assembly of the XC90. Another 200 workers would likely be hired this summer to meet the new production target, Gustafsson said.

Ford Motor Co. bought Volvo's car division in 1999. Volvo's truck and bus division remains an independent company.

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