Volvo Cars has recently welcomed two exciting new additions to its global design team, with Claudia Braun and Thomas Stovicek joining the company’s design operations.
Claudia Braun joined Volvo Cars from Daimler Benz and is the company’s new Vice President of Colour and Material Design. In this role she is responsible for the strategic direction in the area of colours and interior materials for both the Volvo and Polestar brands.
Claudia Braun has a longstanding track record in premium car design. At Daimler, she was responsible for colour and trim design for the Mercedes, AMG and Maybach brands, while she also played a significant role in colour and trim design at Porsche earlier in her career.
Thomas Stovicek joined Volvo Cars from Facebook two years ago and was recently picked to lead Volvo Cars’ user experience (UX) and interaction design operations.
In this role he oversees the development of every digital interaction that customers have with the Volvo brand and the company, be it in their car, via the Volvo Cars website or via an app. Mr Stovicek recently led the work on the soon-to-be-launched update of the Volvo Cars website.
“Volvo is the most stylish and sustainable brand. It is a perfect match to my vision of Scandinavian sustainable design and a responsible way of life,” said Claudia Braun.
"I'm really excited to be working at Volvo Cars right now," added Thomas Stovicek. "The automotive industry is really going through a transformation, and new technologies and processes will allow for new types of products and services to be built for our customers and constant improvement. People’s expectations about what cars can be will change.”
The Volvo Cars Design department, having transformed the look of Volvo Cars’ portfolio and rejuvenated the Volvo brand in recent years, is now focusing on future design opportunities created by the company’s move towards electrified and ultimately autonomous cars.
Over the past decade, the department has been an important factor in establishing Volvo Cars as one of the world’s leading premium car brands.
The XC90 large SUV, launched in 2014, was the first model to introduce Volvo’s modern design language. It set the tone for all subsequent new 90, 60 and 40 Series cars, based on the SPA and CMA modular vehicle architectures that allow for truly premium design proportions.
All three SUVs in the range won prestigious Car of the Year awards in North America, Asia and Europe, demonstrating the success of Volvo’s new design language.
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Volvo Car Group in 2019
For the 2019 financial year, Volvo Car Group recorded an operating profit of 14.3 BSEK (14.2 BSEK in 2018). Revenue over the period amounted to 274.1 BSEK (252.7 BSEK). For the full year 2019, global sales reached a record 705,452 (642,253) cars, an increase of 9.8 per cent versus 2018. The results underline the comprehensive transformation of Volvo Cars’ finances and operations in recent years, positioning the company for its next growth phase.
About Volvo Car Group
Volvo Cars was founded in 1927. Today, it is one of the most well-known and respected premium car brands in the world with sales of 705,452 cars in 2019 in about 100 countries. Volvo Cars has been under the ownership of the Zhejiang Geely Holding since 2010.
In 2019, Volvo Cars employed on average approximately 41,500 (41,500) full-time employees. Volvo Cars head office, product development, marketing and administration functions are mainly located in Gothenburg, Sweden. Volvo Cars head office for APAC is located in Shanghai. The company’s main car production plants are located in Gothenburg (Sweden), Ghent (Belgium), South Carolina (US), Chengdu and Daqing (China), while engines are manufactured in Skövde (Sweden) and Zhangjiakou (China) and body components in Olofström (Sweden).
Under its new company purpose, Volvo Cars aims to provide customers with the Freedom to Move in a personal, sustainable and safe way. This purpose is reflected into a number of business ambitions: for example, by the middle of this decade it aims for half of its global sales to be fully electric cars and to establish five million direct consumer relationships. Volvo Cars is also committed to an ongoing reduction of its carbon footprint, with the ambition to be a climate-neutral company by 2040.
