Does Volvo Have a Future?

by Gunnar Heinrich ::: Volvo Sale to Geely ::: img via TigerData / imcdb / dieselstation

ONE of the best lines to trip forth from the lips of an auto industry suit at a press conference came recently from Li Shu, founder of Geely, who told the attendant reporters that he saw Volvo as a “tiger” and that “[Volvo] belongs to the forest and shouldn’t be contained in the zoo.”

And you thought Volvos were just about passive safety cages.

Crucially, Mr. Shu added, “The heart of the tiger is in Sweden and Belgium [and] it’s paws should extend all across the world.”

This signals that despite plans to build a Volvo manufacturing center in the land of Mao, Volvo’s new Chinese owner recognizes that the Svenska marque needs to keep the Euro vibe by having some 390K+ cars built annually in Europe to maintain its quality Swedish image globally.

So, Mr. Shu’s comments were perhaps the most perfect words that he could possibly have chosen (though they were spoken in Mandarin, which nixed his chances for having a good internationally played sound byte).

But will Volvo prosper tomorrow when it has faltered for so long under FoMoCo? And what of this no more wagon business?

Bear in mind that two years ago, Volvo lost Ford nearly the same amount of money as its sale price today of $1.8 Billion. The “I-Roll” hasn’t rolled in black ink since 2005, when the profits of $377 million were trimmed like foamed milk off a frothy gross.

It’s going to take a fresh brew to reinvigorate the staid lineup – yet – here’s the clincher: there have been stories on the web that say that Volvo’s winding down its wagon business – particularly here in these United States.

If true, this is bad new bears for Volvo.

Despite the North American market’s apparent shift to crossovers being both real and taking more that its fair share of the wagon pie, there’s still that all important niche that everyone and their Irish Setter can identify with Volvo.

Hell, if you’re part of Generation Y and you were raised in the Northeast, your Mom drove a Volvo station wagon and the family 240/740/940/ or 850 was your first ride upon getting the all important license.

Indeed, yours piloted a sharp, black on tan 850 GLT Sportswagon to his driver’s test whereupon the inspector suggested I consider a BMW.

Wagons are to Volvo as the 911 is to Porsche; the Louvre is to Paris; and the knack for the bizarre is Lady Gaga. It’s the marque’s signature.

Importantly, Volvos have also lost their cubist edge in favor of bulbous, meaty flanks originally sourced to the first, un-hip S80 sedan. The response recently has been a flame surfaced design renaissance of a sort for the S60, C70, and C30 that would’ve made Bangle proud, if he still cared.

We’ll see how it pans. But in the mean time, let’s take heart that Volvo is about to be given a kick from the Asian tigers to perform so that it can perform like one.