Photo: Volvo
For most of its history, Volvo was somewhat stable from a financial standpoint. Then came 1999, the year the Volvo Group decided to sell the automaker's passenger car division to Ford.
The Blue Oval integrated the Volvo Car Corporation into the Premier Automotive Group, joining the likes of Jaguar, Land Rover, and Aston Martin. A few years later, things started falling apart as the financial crisis loomed on the horizon. Ford sold Jaguar Land Rover to Tata Motors in 2008, and despite some restructuring, Volvo Cars morphed into a money pit.
Volkswagen was rumored to purchase the Swedish automaker, but Geely had outbid the Germans with the princely sum of $1.8 billion. Under the Chinese holding group’s control, Volvo had the money and the liberty to focus on reviving the lineup, bringing the brand upmarket.
The first Geely-funded project was the Scalable Product Architecture that underpins the 60 and 90 series of sedans, wagons, and utility vehicles. The Compact Modular Architecture followed in 2017 with the XC40 compact crossover, and the CMA also serves as the skeleton of Volvo’s first-ever EV in addition to the Polestar 2. Quite a turnaround, right?
“Volvo Cars today is stronger than it has ever been,” declared head honcho Hakan Samuelsson. “With Geely, we started a new successful phase that took us to a whole new level. We completely renewed our product portfolio, established a global presence, almost doubled our sales, and went from break-even to profitable.” How profitable, you may be asking?
From a revenue and operating profit of 126- and 1.6-billion Swedish kronor in 2011, Volvo leveled up to 274 and 14.3 billion last year. The number of employees has also leveled up to 43,000, doubling since 2011. As for global sales, 706,452 versus 449,255 proves that the right management and the proper product plan can work wonders on an ailing automaker.
“Going forward, we will continue to grow our business together with Geely,” concluded Samuelsson.
Volkswagen was rumored to purchase the Swedish automaker, but Geely had outbid the Germans with the princely sum of $1.8 billion. Under the Chinese holding group’s control, Volvo had the money and the liberty to focus on reviving the lineup, bringing the brand upmarket.
The first Geely-funded project was the Scalable Product Architecture that underpins the 60 and 90 series of sedans, wagons, and utility vehicles. The Compact Modular Architecture followed in 2017 with the XC40 compact crossover, and the CMA also serves as the skeleton of Volvo’s first-ever EV in addition to the Polestar 2. Quite a turnaround, right?
“Volvo Cars today is stronger than it has ever been,” declared head honcho Hakan Samuelsson. “With Geely, we started a new successful phase that took us to a whole new level. We completely renewed our product portfolio, established a global presence, almost doubled our sales, and went from break-even to profitable.” How profitable, you may be asking?
From a revenue and operating profit of 126- and 1.6-billion Swedish kronor in 2011, Volvo leveled up to 274 and 14.3 billion last year. The number of employees has also leveled up to 43,000, doubling since 2011. As for global sales, 706,452 versus 449,255 proves that the right management and the proper product plan can work wonders on an ailing automaker.
“Going forward, we will continue to grow our business together with Geely,” concluded Samuelsson.
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