AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)08/25 Report--

Yuan Xiaolin, senior vice president of Volvo Automotive Group worldwide, president and CEO of Asia Pacific, responded to personnel changes for the first time in an interview with the media on August 24. "it seems sudden, but this is a normal personnel transfer," he said. "there is no such thing as' China and Switzerland'. We are on the other side."

On Aug. 18, Volvo suddenly announced that Chin Pei-ji, former president of Volvo Automobile Greater China sales company, had left and that Pan Songhe (Martin Persson), former general manager of sales in Japan, would take over the Greater China business. In addition, Yuan Xiaolin will continue to serve as the president of Volvo Automotive Greater China, reporting directly to Volvo Global CEO Mule Wen Rong. In the official document, Volvo used only "Volvo cars to thank Mr. Chin Peggy for his service and dedication", briefly describing that Mr. Chin Peggy has left Volvo.

Chin Peigi officially joined Volvo Automotive Greater China in 2011 and has served as Vice President of sales and Dealer Network of Volvo Automotive Group Greater China and Chief operating Officer of Greater China sales Company. In July 2019, Volvo appointed Chin Peigi as president of Volvo Automotive Greater China sales company.

Yuan Xiaolin joined Geely Holdings in 2009 and is in charge of the acquisition of Volvo. In 2010, Geely Holdings bought a 100% stake in Volvo from Ford Motor of the United States for $1.8 billion, making it a Geely holding subsidiary. After the completion of the merger and acquisition, Yuan Xiaolin joined Volvo Automotive Group as director of the chairman's office and secretary of the board of directors at the Swedish headquarters, before returning to China in 2014 as president of Volvo Automotive Group in China. He was appointed acting Senior Vice President of Volvo Automotive Asia Pacific in 2015. In March 2017, Yuan Xiaolin joined the management of Volvo Automotive Group as senior vice president of Volvo Automotive Group, president and CEO of Volvo Automotive Asia Pacific.

This series of personnel changes have been interpreted by the outside world as a game between Volvo's Swedish headquarters and the Chinese team and with Geely, leading to speculation such as "Switzerland seizes power" and "Volvo wants to break away from Geely's control".

Three days later, Yang Xueliang, senior vice president of Geely Holdings Group, posted on the social platform that Qin Peiji, former president of Volvo Greater China, would join Geely as deputy general manager of Geely Automobile Group sales company. and is responsible for serving as the director of the Group Channel Development Committee, in charge of channel development and construction of the Automobile Group, and reporting to Lin Jie, Senior Vice President of Geely Automobile Group.

Subsequently, Volvo issued a more detailed press release on the personnel reshuffle, affirming Chin Pei Ji's excellent achievements during his tenure, and also changing the reporting relationship of his successor Pan Songhe. In the official document on the 18th, Pan Songhe, the new president of Volvo Automotive Greater China sales Company, reported directly to an Boyang, Volvo Automotive Global Chief Commercial Officer, while the latest announcement shows that Pan Songhe will report to Yuan Xiaolin, senior vice president of Volvo Automotive Group, president of Asia Pacific and CEO.

Geely's acquisition of Volvo, at that time known as the "snake swallowing elephant" epic acquisition, but is not favored, the main reason is that Geely is too weak. In 2010, Geely had annual revenue of 20.099 billion yuan and net profit of 1.368 billion yuan. How many years does Geely need to save to buy Volvo? And Volvo at that time, although life is not easy, but also one of the world's well-known automakers, how to get an unknown company to buy. More importantly, even Ford can't revive Volvo, so what about Geely? At that time, Li Shufu responded, "We can't say that if Ford doesn't do well, Geely can't do it, Americans can do it, and the Chinese can't do it either."

In the end, Geely did revive Volvo. In 2019, Volvo sold 705500 vehicles worldwide, the highest since its inception, with annual revenue of 274.1 billion Swedish kronor (about 196.7 billion yuan) and annual operating profit of 14.3 billion Swedish kronor (about 10.2 billion yuan). In 2021, Volvo went public on the Nasdaq Stockholm Stock Exchange.

Behind this management reshuffle, Volvo also hopes to further promote the exchange of management personnel in the electrification transformation process, while continuing to enhance the role of China as a second local market in Volvo's global architecture. From January to July of 2023, Volvo sold 356000 vehicles worldwide, up 18 per cent from the same period last year, including 92700 at Chinese mainland, up 8 per cent from the same period last year.

Although Volvo has been acquired as a Geely brand, in order to ensure purity, Volvo is not completely beholden to Geely. It has an independent management team, brand concept, product planning and marketing strategy. Volvo's development is mainly restricted by capital, resources and channels, after all, Geely holding as a controlling shareholder, all aspects of support is very critical to Volvo.

According to the plan, Volvo will launch four new pure electric models in 2023, laying out three new market segments. By 2025, its pure electric models will account for 50% of total sales, with the rest in hybrid models. By 2030, Volvo will transform into a pure electric brand, when it will sell only pure electric cars, eliminating all cars with internal combustion engines around the world. By 2040, Volvo aims to become a climate zero-load benchmark, and all pure electric models will be sold online only. From the perspective of development in recent years, Volvo has taken the initiative to cater to the Chinese market and actively promote the transformation of motorization. of course, the current sales of electric models have not shown positive results.

Volvo announced that it will launch its first all-electric luxury MPV-- Volvo EM90 in China on November 12, and will open bookings in the Chinese mainland region at the same time. Earlier, Volvo launched the Volvo EX30 in Milan, Italy, which was built on the same platform as Polar Krypton X and became the smallest SUV in the history of the Volvo brand and will be produced domestically in the future. At the 2023 Shanghai Auto Show, Volvo unveiled the Volvo EX90, which is based on the SPA2 platform and will be the first to be listed on the Chinese market.

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