Volvo Cars restructures executive management team to position itself for future growth
The automotive industry is changing. Technological developments and environmental requirements are reshaping what a car is, how people expect to be transported and how they interact with a car.
Effective April 1, Volvo Cars is restructuring its executive management team to reflect these changes and position itself for the future.
With these changes, Volvo will place technological developments and digitalization at the core of the company’s future strategy, focus on its core global business and adapt to new ways of interacting with customers in future.
Björn Annwall, currently head of Global Consumer Experience, will lead Commercial Operations, responsible for running and developing Volvo Cars’ global core business, focusing on growth and profitability.
Björn will head the EMEA region, and lead the global coordination of the EMEA region, the Americas region, which is led by Anders Gustafsson, and the APAC region, which is led by Xiaolin Yuan. Other functions that will form part of this cluster include Customer Service as well as the merged Global Marketing and Communications team.
Lex Kerssemakers, today leading Commercial Operations, will head up a new cluster, Direct Consumer Business, responsible for developing new direct business relationships with consumers.
Lex will be responsible for Care by Volvo, the company’s subscription service, and the stand alone unit M, the shared mobility service as well as Uptime, the company’s new customer service business.
Henrik Green will continue to run Research and Development, and lead the Product Creation & Quality cluster which is to be expanded with the inclusion of Design and Consumer and Enterprise Digital. This structure strengthens the linkage between Volvo Cars’ consumer digital and in-car software development.
Other changes to the Executive Management Team
In an unconnected move, Hans Oscarsson, head of Finance, will from August 1 take up a new position as chief executive officer of Geely Sweden Holding AB, the company responsible for the Geely group’s investments in the Nordic region. His replacement will be announced at a later date.
In addition, Thomas Ingenlath, who is chief executive officer of the stand-alone electrified performance car brand Polestar, will leave Volvo Cars’ executive management team. Thomas will remain responsible for Group Design, working closely with Robin Page, head of Design at Volvo.
-------------------------------
Volvo Car Group in 2018
Voor het boekjaar 2018 liet Volvo Car Group een bedrijfswinst optekenen van 14.185 miljoen SEK (14.061 miljoen SEK in 2017). De omzet voor dit boekjaar bedroeg 252.653 miljoen SEK (208.646 miljoen SEK). In 2018 verkocht Volvo Car Group wereldwijd 642.253 auto's, ofwel 12,4% meer dan in 2017 (571.577). De resultaten accentueren de uitgebreide transformatie van Volvo Cars’ financiën en activiteiten gedurende de voorbije jaren en stuwen het bedrijf in de richting van de volgende groeifase.
Over Volvo Car Group
Volvo is actief sinds 1927. Vandaag is Volvo Cars een van de bekendste en meest gerespecteerde automerken ter wereld. In 2018 werden 642.253 Volvo's verkocht in ongeveer 100 landen. Volvo Cars is sinds 2010 eigendom van de Chinese Zhejiang Geely Holding (Geely Holding). Het bedrijf maakte deel uit van de Zweedse Volvo Group tot 1999, toen het werd gekocht door het Amerikaanse Ford Motor Company. In 2010 werd Volvo Cars uiteindelijk overgenomen door Geely Holding.
In 2018 telde Volvo Cars ongeveer 43.000 (39.500) voltijdse werknemers. De hoofdzetel, productontwikkeling, marketing en administratie van Volvo Cars zijn hoofdzakelijk gevestigd in Göteborg, Zweden. De hoofdzetel van Volvo Cars in China is gevestigd in Shanghai. De grootste autofabrieken van het bedrijf zijn gevestigd in Göteborg (Zweden), Gent (België), South Carolina (VS), Chengdu en Daqing (China), terwijl de motoren worden gemaakt in Skövde (Zweden) en Zhangjiakou (China) en de carrosserieonderdelen in Olofström (Zweden).
