Volvo, better off on its own?
04-24-08, 07:59 PM
#1
Guest
Posts: n/a
Volvo, better off on its own?
Volvo, better off on its own?
My heart beats for Volvo. It was the first marque I knew and the only one my mum and dad would consider. Genuine and wholesome cars, from Sweden. But now it doesn't look so good for Volvo.
I get lots of phone calls and e-mails from Volvo-employees. That’s not a good sign. Some of the information is even so “interesting” that we don’t want to print it - it wouldn’t be good for Volvo. I don’t believe in the Ford-ownership anymore.
If we are to look at it from a positive point of view, the Swedish “importer” and marketing department has done a great job, and Volvo has also begun racing again. We know that there are plans for a slew of small Volvos, and we have seen plans for how Volvo is to become “greener”, more fun and more premium.
Notice that I write "plans"…
Today sales are falling so fast that Volvo has had to put two factories on hold to avoid getting to many cars in stock, and the dollar is so cheap that every Volvo sold in the USA might be a loss-maker.
Daily speculations that Ford is selling Volvo isn’t exactly boosting morale, and Volvo-employees tell of men in suits visiting almost daily from companies from all over the world. The hottest buyout-candidate lately is Russian automobile manufacturer GAZ, or so I’ve heard.
Today's Volvo is far, far away from a reality where the cars are “green”. Today there are many Volvo-employees who no longer enjoy working at Volvo, who do not do their best, who has almost hit the wall – both physically and mentally. A Volvo under financial pressure has been forced to cut down paychecks, which means that not everybody can do their work as well as they want to.
The tough, quarter-based, economics has destroyed all of the stabile longtime planning. “The Swedish model” is gone with the wind, and instead this is what we hear: “The executives change direction all the time, and the quality and time plans suffer from it. The team-feeling is lost. The management lacks technical understanding and fail to see the reality that engineers and car-builders live in. Carrots have been replaced with whips. The salaries are falling behind other Swedish companies. The Ford management model breeds yes-sayers who are afraid of their bosses – imagine if someone stopped smirking in all situations and instead dared to put their chin out.”
Rumors say that 50 percent of Volvos R&D-department is being trimmed off, and that Volvo in the future will concentrate on “tophat” – meaning body and design! Technology will be bought. At the same time another rumor says that new projects won’t be developed using Ford-parts, that way making it easier to sell Volvo – if for example Renault buys, they probably don’t want to be forced to buy large quantities of Ford-parts for numerous years.
New projects are launched and put on hold over and over again. The development of the upcoming S60, probably brought to market in 2010, started back in 2002. The project has stuttered along using start & stop – meaning that a group of engineers starts working on it only to be pulled off the project and put to work on something else, and when it’s then time to start up the project again a whole new team of engineers are brought in. This has happened time and time again.
Speaking of start & stop, that kind of engine management system was in the plans already for today’s S40. Volvo has had tons of exciting technology that’s never reached production. Today, no project gets the go-ahead unless the business-model is 100% indisputable. The little C30 was “a gamble” that turned out to be profitable – but now there’s no more taking chances at Volvo.
The simple truth is that no company can gain success by cutting back and playing it safe. If Volvo is to pick up speed again you have to give it throttle, with fresh billions, verve in the tank, continuity and executives who dare. That won’t happen under Ford.
However – remember that Saab just a few years ago was about to be reduced to just a rebadged GM-car, or shipped off to China. Now they’ve been revitalized and have picked up steam. Big time.
Volvo has much bigger potential to pull itself out of its problems.
My heart beats for Volvo. It was the first marque I knew and the only one my mum and dad would consider. Genuine and wholesome cars, from Sweden. But now it doesn't look so good for Volvo.
I get lots of phone calls and e-mails from Volvo-employees. That’s not a good sign. Some of the information is even so “interesting” that we don’t want to print it - it wouldn’t be good for Volvo. I don’t believe in the Ford-ownership anymore.
If we are to look at it from a positive point of view, the Swedish “importer” and marketing department has done a great job, and Volvo has also begun racing again. We know that there are plans for a slew of small Volvos, and we have seen plans for how Volvo is to become “greener”, more fun and more premium.
Notice that I write "plans"…
Today sales are falling so fast that Volvo has had to put two factories on hold to avoid getting to many cars in stock, and the dollar is so cheap that every Volvo sold in the USA might be a loss-maker.
Daily speculations that Ford is selling Volvo isn’t exactly boosting morale, and Volvo-employees tell of men in suits visiting almost daily from companies from all over the world. The hottest buyout-candidate lately is Russian automobile manufacturer GAZ, or so I’ve heard.
Today's Volvo is far, far away from a reality where the cars are “green”. Today there are many Volvo-employees who no longer enjoy working at Volvo, who do not do their best, who has almost hit the wall – both physically and mentally. A Volvo under financial pressure has been forced to cut down paychecks, which means that not everybody can do their work as well as they want to.
The tough, quarter-based, economics has destroyed all of the stabile longtime planning. “The Swedish model” is gone with the wind, and instead this is what we hear: “The executives change direction all the time, and the quality and time plans suffer from it. The team-feeling is lost. The management lacks technical understanding and fail to see the reality that engineers and car-builders live in. Carrots have been replaced with whips. The salaries are falling behind other Swedish companies. The Ford management model breeds yes-sayers who are afraid of their bosses – imagine if someone stopped smirking in all situations and instead dared to put their chin out.”
Rumors say that 50 percent of Volvos R&D-department is being trimmed off, and that Volvo in the future will concentrate on “tophat” – meaning body and design! Technology will be bought. At the same time another rumor says that new projects won’t be developed using Ford-parts, that way making it easier to sell Volvo – if for example Renault buys, they probably don’t want to be forced to buy large quantities of Ford-parts for numerous years.
New projects are launched and put on hold over and over again. The development of the upcoming S60, probably brought to market in 2010, started back in 2002. The project has stuttered along using start & stop – meaning that a group of engineers starts working on it only to be pulled off the project and put to work on something else, and when it’s then time to start up the project again a whole new team of engineers are brought in. This has happened time and time again.
Speaking of start & stop, that kind of engine management system was in the plans already for today’s S40. Volvo has had tons of exciting technology that’s never reached production. Today, no project gets the go-ahead unless the business-model is 100% indisputable. The little C30 was “a gamble” that turned out to be profitable – but now there’s no more taking chances at Volvo.
The simple truth is that no company can gain success by cutting back and playing it safe. If Volvo is to pick up speed again you have to give it throttle, with fresh billions, verve in the tank, continuity and executives who dare. That won’t happen under Ford.
However – remember that Saab just a few years ago was about to be reduced to just a rebadged GM-car, or shipped off to China. Now they’ve been revitalized and have picked up steam. Big time.
Volvo has much bigger potential to pull itself out of its problems.
04-24-08, 08:02 PM
#2
Guest
Posts: n/a
Volvo Loses $151m in First Quarter. Any takers?
In years past, Ford resolutely refused to report earnings for the individual brands in its Premium Auto Group (PAG) (Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston, Volvo and, for ten minutes, Lincoln). And for good reason. The brainchild of former BMW suit and bon vivant Wolfgang Reitzle, PAG has been a financial sinkhole since day one. Now that Jag and Landie's gone to Tata Motors and Aston's been flogged to an unholy alliance of a Texan and the Kuwaitis, PAG consists of… Volvo. And today, for the first time ever, FoMoCo's broken out earnings in the Volvo unit. And the news ain't good. Yahoo!Finance reports that a year ago, Volvo posted a $94m profit in the first quarter. This year, they had a first quarter pretax loss of $151m. So why, when Volvo was making money, didn't they brag about it? And why, now that it's losing money, do they disclose the fact? It's just one more indication that Ford is building a case to justify putting Volvo on the auction block a la Jag and Land Rover. Adjö Volvo.
In years past, Ford resolutely refused to report earnings for the individual brands in its Premium Auto Group (PAG) (Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston, Volvo and, for ten minutes, Lincoln). And for good reason. The brainchild of former BMW suit and bon vivant Wolfgang Reitzle, PAG has been a financial sinkhole since day one. Now that Jag and Landie's gone to Tata Motors and Aston's been flogged to an unholy alliance of a Texan and the Kuwaitis, PAG consists of… Volvo. And today, for the first time ever, FoMoCo's broken out earnings in the Volvo unit. And the news ain't good. Yahoo!Finance reports that a year ago, Volvo posted a $94m profit in the first quarter. This year, they had a first quarter pretax loss of $151m. So why, when Volvo was making money, didn't they brag about it? And why, now that it's losing money, do they disclose the fact? It's just one more indication that Ford is building a case to justify putting Volvo on the auction block a la Jag and Land Rover. Adjö Volvo.
04-24-08, 11:16 PM
#3
Lexus Test Driver
My heart beats for Volvo. It was the first marque I knew and the only one my mum and dad would consider. Genuine and wholesome cars, from Sweden. But now it doesn't look so good for Volvo.
I get lots of phone calls and e-mails from Volvo-employees. That’s not a good sign. Some of the information is even so “interesting” that we don’t want to print it - it wouldn’t be good for Volvo. I don’t believe in the Ford-ownership anymore.
I get lots of phone calls and e-mails from Volvo-employees. That’s not a good sign. Some of the information is even so “interesting” that we don’t want to print it - it wouldn’t be good for Volvo. I don’t believe in the Ford-ownership anymore.
04-24-08, 11:26 PM
#4
Racer
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: CA
Posts: 1,935
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
04-24-08, 11:51 PM
#5
Lexus Test Driver
Maybe the Chinese should buy them out. Volvo should be able to get them up to speed on crash safety hehe
04-25-08, 01:37 AM
#6
I'm amazed Ford sold Land Rover - last year it posted profits of $1.2 billion. Even Jaguar "only" lost $100 million. Fair enough, sell Jaguar, but LR has a great model line up and exciting plans for the future in hybrid technology.
04-25-08, 05:50 AM
#7
Guest
Posts: n/a
So How did you get all this info about the working conditions at Volvo? I just got a new Volvo C30 and what you're writting is just a bit worrisome. The C30 is such and unique and awesome car but it doesn't seem to be selling. I always suspected it's was due to some issue with Volvo not having the $ to market the car. I think that if the C30 was a new funky Scion instead of a Volvo you'd be seeing it all over the place by now.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post