Premier opens Volvo Group’s new national headquarters at Wacol

Australia’s largest automotive manufacturer, Volvo Group Australia, has opened its new national headquarters at Wacol, signalling the next chapter in its 46-year Queensland-based success story.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk today joined AB Volvo CEO and President Martin Lundstedt and Volvo Group Australia CEO and President Peter Voorhoeve in unveiling the $30 million development at the Metroplex Westgate business park, close to the company’s existing assembly plant.

“Queensland is proud of its long association with Volvo Group Australia, which has manufactured more than 60,000 trucks for the Australian market at its Wacol factory since 1972,” the Premier said.

“The company is our nation’s only truck manufacturer to be awarded ‘Australia Made’ certification and holds an impressive 27.4 percent share of the heavy-duty truck market.

“Its new headquarters and dealership, training facilities and factory expansion are proof Queensland’s economy is going strong, our construction and manufacturing industries are powering ahead, and ours is the best state in Australia in which to do business.”

The Premier said more than 300 jobs were created during construction of the new headquarters and around 195 Queenslanders would now work there, along with 530 at the nearby factory in Wacol.

“Volvo Group’s decision to base its national operations here was not only an economic win for Queensland, it’s been a personal win for hundreds of South East Queensland families, providing them with opportunities and job security for the long haul,” the Premier said.

The Premier said she was thrilled that Volvo, the global inventor of the three-point seat belt which has saved more than a million lives, was now testing its heavy vehicle innovations on Queensland roads.

“Volvo knows, if its new truck prototypes can withstand 50 degree Outback heat, a kangaroo darting out onto the road, and very long stretches between fuel stops, they will work anywhere,” the Premier said.

“Queensland is the ideal testing site, the perfect incubator of bright ideas and a manufacturing powerhouse. We are the proud to be home to this remarkable ‘Australia made’ success story, conceived in Sweden but built right here in Queensland.”

Media Contact:                 Geoff Breusch 0417 272 875