Volvo Car Group is to launch its first model since being acquired by the Chinese company Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd from Ford Motor Co. in 2010. At a special event today, the company presented its second-generation XC90 sport-utility car, which will be in showrooms in April, with a limited early series of 1 927 units to start selling on the Volvo site on September 3rd.
Volvo Car Group expects the new €50 000 (~$66 000) vehicle to be sold at least as well as the first-generation model, which reached sold 90 000 to 100 000 units on a yearly basis. The company is targeting overall annual sales of 800 000 vehicles by 2020.
The Volvo brand, which was founded in 1927, highlighted its Swedish roots when presenting the new model, underscoring it is the first car the company developed entirely on its own, also pointing to the lights, shaped like Thors hammer from Nordic mythology. It is part of the strategy to invest about half of the companys four-year development budget, which totals $11 billion, in its home market.
“We are emphasizing our determination to build the future of our brand on our Swedish heritage,” Volvo Cars Chief Executive Officer Hakan Samuelsson said at the presentation. “This has been a very interesting and challenging phase for us all in the company but I’m quite convinced it has made the company stronger, transforming it from a division to a stand-alone car manufacturer with a stable owner.”
In addition to Mjölnir-like headlights, the car will feature crystal gear-shift lever by glassmaker Orrefors. The company again reiterated its commitment to passenger safety and environmental protection, employing only the best of its technologies in the new model.
On August 15th, the Chief Executive Officer of Volvo Cars Group Hakan Samuelsson said in an interview, which was cited by Bloomberg: “If the engineers just sit in laboratories and lose connection to the daily use of the cars, the cars will not be good enough. The engineers have to experience the car personally – scraping ice, seeing how the defrosters work, seeing how fast the seats heat up.”
Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd was 0.99% up to close at HKD 3.05 per share today, marking a one-year change of -25.25%, and valuing the company at HKD 26.58bn (~$3.43bn).
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