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.
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Volvo Car Group in 2018
For the 2018 financial year, Volvo Car Group recorded an operating profit of 14,185 MSEK (14,061 MSEK in 2017). Revenue over the period amounted to 252,653 MSEK (208,646 MSEK). For the full year 2018, global sales reached a record 642,253 (571,577) cars, an increase of 12.4 per cent versus 2017. 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 has been in operation since 1927. Today, Volvo Cars is one of the most well-known and respected car brands in the world with sales of 642,253 cars in 2018 in about 100 countries. Volvo Cars has been under the ownership of the Zhejiang Geely Holding (Geely Holding) of China since 2010. It formed part of the Swedish Volvo Group until 1999, when the company was bought by Ford Motor Company of the US. In 2010, Volvo Cars was acquired by Geely Holding.
In 2018, Volvo Cars employed on average approximately 43,000 (39,500) full-time employees. Volvo Cars head office, product development, marketing and administration functions are mainly located in Gothenburg, Sweden. Volvo Cars head office for China 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).
