Volvo vice president, pressured by bonuses and delayed electric cars

Door

februari 8, 2019

Hard pressed about this at the press conference that followed after the annual report in the said Håkan Samuelsson:

“This is really nothing that we desired to communicate, I fully understand the employees’ disappointment. I would have probably reacted exactly the same way myself.

He explained that a bonus, to be fair, must be based on ”financial variables, well-defined ingångströsklar” and Volvo cars in the last year did not meet the objectives. And then there will be no bonus. It applies, of course, for all the Volvo cars, ” he said.

he was bothered by was the electrification, that it goes so slowly.

In July 2017, the promised Håkan Samuelsson, Volvo cars would take the lead in the transition from year 2019 to equip all new cars with an electric motor.

It was an extremely deviously worded press release that caused many to interpret it as that Volvo scrap cars with only gasoline and diesel from 2019, that is to say, already in the year.

the Reality was quite different, the Formulation applied to n y a cars in the sense of completely new models.

However, object to the friend of order, how are we to interpret the latest modellnyheten Volvo V60, a new model, which we launched in a new version and which is expected to account for a significant share of sales: the V60 Cross country.

During the trial, was the only available with petrol! And the dealers can at present only demonstrate the car – with diesel!

Håkan Samuelsson sounded slightly regretful when he was reminded of what was promised.

” of course I wish the transition could have gone faster. But one should remember that we have gone from selling a half million cars, of which 90% have been diesel powered. In the last year increased sales of our plug-in hybrids greatly.

– Cross country appeared in last year’s autumn and we knew then that it becomes the last car. Since the coming of electrification in the form of mildhybrider and later in the year, the Polestar 2, the first electric car, and shortly thereafter follows a elversion of the XC40. (Polestar is Volvo’s sportbilsmärke, DN:s note)

” we Look forward to the year 2025 we expect that half of the sales are pure electric cars, the rest hybrids of various kinds.

about the severe lack of batteries in proportion to the demand, he replied like this:

” Yes, it is a critical part, We will work with Geely to work with a number of partners to guarantee the capacity we need.

– the Batteries will be the largest the proportion of costs, so it is very important that we secure it in a cost effective manner.

– We have also had problems with the components of our twin-engine (Volvo’s plug-in hybrids, DN:s note), but we still managed to make 40.000 cars in the last year, a pretty good step.

Despite the profits of just over sek 14 billion and a general rise in sales in all key markets, even where the competitors pulled, so waiting now for the tougher times of intense hunting on costs, is the message.

, especially in China and the effects of the trade war, that, if it continues, is difficult to predict.

Håkan Samuelsson again:

the Market outlook for 2019 is uncertain, we have, among other things handelskonflikten and brexit and the slowdown in China.

– therefore, It is difficult to give forecasts, but we have the broadest product offering in history, and I see this as a very strong factor for us.

– But the continuing price pressure, particularly in China, we need to face in different ways, he explained.