Currently reading: Volvo plans 7-series rival

New Volvo owners Geely want the firm to move upmarket, building more luxury cars

The new owners of Volvo want to see the company build flagship executive cars to compete directly with BMW and Mercedes.

Speaking shortly after taking control of Volvo from Ford, Geely boss Li Shufu said he wanted to see the Swedish carmaker make more “high level cars that compete with the Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7-series”.

Read the full story on Volvo's sale to Geely

Shufu told a press conference in London that Volvo had the technology and research capabilities to compete at the top end of the market as well as demand higher retail prices.

Shufu’s also made clear that a push into the booming Chinese car market would demand luxury that Chinese customers could “see through their eyes and touch with their hands”.

However, such comments also indicate the pressure the new Volvo board (and new, ex-VW, boss Stephan Jacoby) will be under to retain Volvo’s Scandinavian brand values as well as appeal to China’s more glitzy tastes.

Geely paid just over £1bn to buy the loss making company and reportedly wants to nearly double sales from last year’s 335,000 units. Volvo made losses of around £400m last year, but says that a relatively modest increase in sales should tip it back into profit. See all the latest Volvo reviews, news and video

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Volvophile 8 August 2010

Re: Volvo plans 7-series rival

"Confusing? Anyway, Chinese win! Excellent move, resembles to the one Fiat made on Chrysler"

It's the typical attitude we've come to know from Autocar towards the brand. It's not suprising that they're downplaying the company's performance seeing as they've rarely ever said anything good about their cars.

I don't see any reason why they wouldn't be able to pull it off. If Audi, a brand with considerably less heritage as a premium car manufacturer who eventually achieved success with their A8, why can't Volvo do the same? If they have the resources and the right marketing men then it should be perfectly achievable.

andrepaul999 4 August 2010

Re: Volvo plans 7-series rival

Volvo............?

oh yes i remember them!

SF695 4 August 2010

Re: Volvo plans 7-series rival

TStag wrote:
What a waste of time. Volvo should focus on beating VW not BMW.

Beating VW would be a far bigger task than beating BMW. VW is one of the worlds largest carmakers, with cars in more or less every segment. BMW on the other hand concentrates on the smaller marked of upperclass cars. A segment not unknown to Volvo and far more realistic to compete in, given the size of the company