Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Volvo not for sale says Odell
Brit Steve Odell is the first non-Swede at the helm of Volvo Car Corporation, and despite the rumours, he insists he has not been put in place by his Ford bosses to get the company ready for sale.
He believes the Volvo brand is undervalued and needs time to show just what it can do. "I am an old fashioned sales guy," he said at the Paris Motor Show.
"All I want is for Volvo to have an unfair share of whatever the market is. My brief is to get Volvo back to sustainable profitability"
He admits Volvo, which is owned by Ford, is some way short of meeting its previously announced target of volumes in excess of 600,000 cars a year globally.
This year, he says, it will probably fall short of 400,000, down from around 440,000 in 2007.
Getting back to profitability is inevitably going to involve some pain, he said. The company already announced 2,000 job losses in June and a further 900 three weeks ago.
Odell, officially just two days into his new job as Volvo boss, said he will be looking at the cost base over the next month.
"We will be in a position to make further announcements at the end of October," he said.
He is not daunted by being the first foreigner in charge of the company.
He added: "Volvo is a national treasure and the decisions we make have to be good for the company and Sweden. In fact I have even asked the Swedish government how they feel about a Brit being in charge.
"If they thought it was a problem then I would have had to have a good, long look at what that meant."
Where does he see the brand going? Odell said: "Volvo cannot abandon safety as a key brand value and the environment is key - that's not just a marketing term, in Sweden it's a base assumption."
DATED: 07.10.08
FEED: MT
He believes the Volvo brand is undervalued and needs time to show just what it can do. "I am an old fashioned sales guy," he said at the Paris Motor Show.
"All I want is for Volvo to have an unfair share of whatever the market is. My brief is to get Volvo back to sustainable profitability"
He admits Volvo, which is owned by Ford, is some way short of meeting its previously announced target of volumes in excess of 600,000 cars a year globally.
This year, he says, it will probably fall short of 400,000, down from around 440,000 in 2007.
Getting back to profitability is inevitably going to involve some pain, he said. The company already announced 2,000 job losses in June and a further 900 three weeks ago.
Odell, officially just two days into his new job as Volvo boss, said he will be looking at the cost base over the next month.
"We will be in a position to make further announcements at the end of October," he said.
He is not daunted by being the first foreigner in charge of the company.
He added: "Volvo is a national treasure and the decisions we make have to be good for the company and Sweden. In fact I have even asked the Swedish government how they feel about a Brit being in charge.
"If they thought it was a problem then I would have had to have a good, long look at what that meant."
Where does he see the brand going? Odell said: "Volvo cannot abandon safety as a key brand value and the environment is key - that's not just a marketing term, in Sweden it's a base assumption."
DATED: 07.10.08
FEED: MT
