The Volvo Group announced this week a $41 million investment in North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad to purchase and expand the building housing its U.S. Uptime Center, which will now also serve as the new global headquarters for Volvo Financial Services (VFS).
The expansion of the building, which is about two miles from VFS’ currently leased location, will bring about 360 VFS colleagues onto Volvo Group North America’s campus.
The announcements were made during a groundbreaking ceremony by Martin Weissburg, Volvo Group North America (VGNA) chairman and Mack Trucks president, and Marcio Pedroso, Volvo Financial Services (VFS) president at VGNA’s Uptime Center.
“The Uptime Center is a strategic site for Volvo Group North America, playing a critical role in keeping our customers and their vehicles on the road, delivering goods, transporting people and servicing communities throughout the year,” says Martin Weissburg. “Our purchase and expansion of this facility reinforces our commitment to the great communities and residents of the Piedmont Triad, and we look forward to welcoming Volvo Financial Services to our campus.”
“Moving Volvo Financial Services allows all Volvo Group entities in the Piedmont to be located on one campus,” says Marcio Pedroso. “Co-location will enable deeper relationships with our colleagues, and the work environment we’ll create in our new headquarters will help us retain highly skilled, world-class jobs that support the local economy.”
Volvo Group’s investment includes the acquisition of the Uptime Center building, which opened in 2014 and was previously leased by the company, as well as a 62,000 sq. ft. expansion of the Uptime Center to house Volvo Financial Services’ global headquarters. At project completion, the facility’s new three-story footprint will be about 185,000 sq. ft., connected by a glass atrium and two upper-level walkways.
VFS is the captive finance arm of the Volvo Group, providing financial services and solutions for customers of Mack Trucks, Volvo Trucks, Volvo Construction Equipment, Nova buses, Prevost coaches and Volvo buses in North America, as well as other Volvo Group brands around the world. VFS operates in 50 countries around the globe with approximately 1,700 colleagues worldwide.
The Uptime Center site, which straddles the cities of Greensboro and High Point, houses key resources to ensure that customers’ commercial trucks keep moving, with people and systems dedicated to monitoring and responding to vehicle issues in real time, helping dealers troubleshoot difficult cases and finding the necessary parts for repair.
This site also includes the company’s world-class connectivity services for over-the-air monitoring and software updates for optimized vehicle performance, as well as service market logistics, IT, training facilities and finance and accounting, the company says.
The Volvo Group today employs around 600 people at the Uptime Center. At project completion, which is expected in the first quarter 2023, Volvo Financial Services will relocate approximately 360 jobs to their new headquarters.
