The sprawling U.S. assembly plant that Volvo Cars powered up in the summer of 2018 signaled a bold ambition to expand into the world’s second-largest auto market.

But seven years later, Volvo has failed to capitalize on the $1.4 billion investment.

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The 2.3 million-square-foot factory in Ridgeville, S.C., about an hour northwest of Charleston, was designed to turn out 150,000 vehicles annually.

According to Automotive News Research & Data Center estimates, Volvo built 20,000 vehicles there last year — 13 percent of its capacity. Production of the S60 sedan ended a year ago, leaving just two electric crossovers: the Volvo EX90 and Polestar 3.

“Auto assembly plants require a utilization rate of at least 50 percent to break even,” analyst Jeff Schuster said.

Volvo’s industrial predicament can be traced to poor product decisions and a mistimed bet on electric vehicles.

The factory was challenged from the start as Volvo struggled to find skilled production talent in a largely rural area of South Carolina. There also has been churn in plant leadership.

Given the factory’s sustained losses, coupled with a more recent slump in Volvo’s global sales and financial performance, some question whether the Swedish automaker has the financial firepower to persist with its U.S. manufacturing effort.

“Volvo can minimize the damage by cutting shifts and slowing the lines, but it doesn’t reduce the fixed costs,” Schuster said.

If Volvo is having second thoughts about U.S. production, it’s not showing them.

Volvo is “fully committed” to the South Carolina plant, a spokeswoman said in a statement. She described the industrial operation as a “key strategic advantage” in Volvo’s plan to “build where we sell.”

To boost factory utilization, Volvo is considering building a higher-volume model, potentially the midsize XC60 hybrid crossover, in the U.S.

“We want to bring in something rather fast, and something selling in good numbers, so something midsize core is a good guess,” Volvo Cars CEO Hakan Samuelsson said in mid-May.

However, that would require pouring several hundred million dollars more into the factory.

“The question Volvo has to ask internally is: If we do this, is it the right plan that gets the plant to where it needs to be in volume?” Schuster said. “Or, do we cut our losses now?”

It’s a valid question as a global sales slide taxes Volvo’s balance sheet.

The automaker, which is majority-owned by China’s Geely Holding, reported a 60 percent plunge in first-quarter operating income.