YesterdayIn 2009, the prognosticators have been predicting the Volvo franchise’s demise within the American Market. The August three, 2000 problem of Automotive Information reported:The good trade shakeout of 2009 is not over. Possession of at the least two main gamers, Opel and Volvo, remains to be to be determined, and what occurs to at least one may have an effect on the opposite.The Wall Avenue Journal says Ford has put the brakes on the bidding for Volvo in an try to get a greater worth. Citing a supply, the Journal says Ford will watch for Basic Motors to conclude the sale of Opel. Ford hopes to curiosity the loser within the Opel sweepstakes to go after Volvo.Previous to 1998, “In liberal communities around the country, from Cambridge, Massachusetts., to San Francisco, the typical Volvo driver was a rumpled intellectual with a family, someone who was typically an architect or college professor who appreciated the inherent anti-consumerist slant of the decidedly unsexy Volvo yet who also wanted a car that was well-made and, most important, safe.” Volvo Purchaser Demographics, Forbes Journal, Charles Dubow, Could 12, 2003
TodayFast ahead a number of years and, in 2011, Motoring Journal was reporting “The buyer demographic for Volvo is changing. The types of buyers are different to what they were 10 years ago.” says Volvo Automotive Australia managing director Matt Braid, New age Volvo consumers favour energy over security, Joshua Dowling, December 14, 2011Who’s the common Volvo driver at this time? Sometimes, a school educated skilled between the ages of 30 and 50. Common revenue 80ok plus. Even mixture of female and male purchasers. See: https://solutions.yahoo.com/query/index?qid=20080514173953AADF8HZ”… the average S60 buyer is 45 years old, has a household income of more than $100,000, and is slightly more likely to be a woman. Clearly, this is a smart, conservative market, one that is less prone to mid-life crises, and which can afford to buy any car it wants from the category. The more expensive BMW 3-Series, by comparison, has a younger (39), predominantly male demographic that, interestingly, has a lower household income. New age Volvo buyers favour power over safety, Joshua Dowling, December 14, 2011.”Nonetheless, the Volvo that was attracting many younger adults was the S60 Polestar.” Ibid.In the present day, the money is pouring in. In 2016 Volvo’s working revenue rose 66 % to 11 billion Swedish crowns ($1.25 billion) on income of $20.2 billion, giving it an working margin of 6.1 %. It has money reserves of $four.three billion, up from $2.9 million in 2015.Volvo is rising regardless of its small market share. Their gross sales are posting as will increase, not decreases. They’ve additionally invested half-a-billion in a plant in South Carolina that may produce 120,000 models at max capability. (60,000 on regular manufacturing observe).
The plant is to start out rolling automobiles off the meeting line in 2018 and make use of as much as 2,000 individuals over the following decade, “and up to 4,000 people over the longer term.”It’ll use the corporate’s proprietary Scalable Product Structure (SPA) platform, a modular strategy — much like a system Volkswagen Group has referred to as MQB — that enables the design and manufacturing of all kinds of automobiles on a sole mechanical platform. Clearly the plant’s proximity to the Port of Charleston — simply 30 miles away — is necessary to creating the monetary proposition work. On the plant, Volvo stated that it’s going to make the “latest generation of Volvo models for sale in the United States and for export.” Supply: Forbes Journal, Could 11, 2015.Volvo is now successful by any measure. World gross sales final yr stood at 534,127, nearly precisely 200,000 models extra that it bought in 2009. The figures make Volvo’s bold assertion made again in 2011 to develop gross sales to 800,000 by 2020 look modest.