Volvo must abandon its quest to be considered ‘premium’ and come up with a new strategy, according to the firm’s recently installed boss, Stefan Jacoby.
The Swedish manufacturer is re-evaluating its product plan in the wake of its takeover by Chinese firm Geely. Jacoby believes it needs to stop chasing the ‘premium’ market high ground currently held by BMW, Audi and Mercedes.
“Let’s ditch this talk about premium,” said Jacoby. “It sounds like a pricing strategy and it’s got an expensive ring to it. We need to focus on elegant Scandinavian simplicity, our own unique identity, and not copy our competitors.”
Read more on the clash over Volvo's future
Jacoby is targeting 800,000 sales per year by 2020, more than double the 380,000 units that Volvo expects to sell in 2010. He says that re-establishing the firm’s strength in the US market will be a crucial part of his plan.
“We have lost ground in the US,” explained the Volvo chief exec. “We are at the bottom, looking up.”
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Re: Volvo to ditch premium tag
Re: Volvo to ditch premium tag
If you read his whole quote, not just the word 'premium', it makes a lot of sense. Stop trying to compare yourself to the Germans, which will only ever lead to disappointment, and go back to being Volvo.
Re: Volvo to ditch premium tag
I wholly agree, one might go as far to say that those qualities are the very essence of a premium product. Before the 90s, Volvo had these qualities in abundance, and people did regard them in the same sentence as Mercedes, indeed it was a case of 260 TE or 760 GLE estate. This is where they need to return to, back to the days of discrete 'premium': making classless vehicles that had all of the qualities of the perceived premium segment offerings. The 90s saw too many manufacturers wanting to be premium, and many are the worse for it now. Even the Golf, (MKII) was a very classless car that was as comfortable on the Kings Road as a Tesco car park. Now it is perceived to be a more premium product whilst looking uncomfortable, or rather invisible, in both. Now they are probably more at home in a new build cul-de-sac in Bracknell than anywhere else. The same can be argued with the S60 and S80. They now look unfcomfortable in certain environments (S80 makes you think Airport transfer, S60 - couldn't afford a 5 series, which is wrong I know) whereas the 740/760, for all of their shortcomings, still have distinction and class. They are small points, but seeing certain cars in these environments does make sense. It's the difference between a 500 and a Mini. If Volvo can crack the balance between their modern dynamics with their more traditional values, they might have a major success on their hands.