Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Two Shall Enter, One Shall Leave: Geely and Volvo disagree on Volvo's Future


Li Shufu, president of current Volvo owner, China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., appears to be having some issues with Volvo executives regarding the brand's future plans. According to Auto News Europe, there are two major issues: 1) the types of cars Volvo wants to build, and 2) brand marketing.

Mr. Li thinks Volvo should build larger cars for the Chinese market and go after the premium segment with BMW/Mercedes competitors. Volvo higher-ups, on the other hand, want smaller, more efficient cars that may not necessarily appeal to premium buyers. Li says he's willing to bend a little if the managers running Volvo won't, because "they have brought Volvo to where it is today...They must have good reasons."

Mr. Li hopes to build two new manufacturing plants in China in order to push the brand as a luxury option and meet potential future demand.

By Phil Alex

Via: Autonewseurope