I think it is safe to say that everyone here at Swedespeed is passionate about cars, which is why I am kinda nervous to state my opinions. There are considerate people out there, an then there are extremely righteous people out there. Regardless, I will proceed.
I say that I disagree with what the article said.
I do not want another SAAB brand out there that caters to the handful of 'million mile club' people. I loved SAAB, but I did not like the brand culture. I feel like SAAB managers would say"Hey, have a quirky, Scandinavian car for $50,000. You would be so hip!" This argument would seem invalid to some of you because SAAB did not have proper funding. My argument says that, regardless of the funding, they marketed their products to fans, and was not able to attract new buyers who could afford such a car. I bring up SAAB because I feel that their marketing was a factor for the public's distaste in SAAB. Why did people not like SAAB? Why wasn't everyone interested in this brand? was it really the bad transmission and the numb steering holding all of those customers back? I doubt it. I bet it was the quirky attitude that was too bizarre for rich suburbians.
Volvo was and still is in a different, and a much better situation than SAAB. While Volvo did not have the proper support from Ford, they had well built vehicles and a stronger portfolio of vehicles. Volvo would sell 4 times the amount of cars than SAAB, because people buying Volvos were interested in the image of solid quality, precise handling, good design. While not as competitive as BMW, Volvo had the XC90 and a beautiful C70, and a fun S60. Volvo was willing to compete with the Germans. Why did Volvo make the S80? Why did Volvo make the XC90?
The market has made some changes, and Volvo, as a legitimate business, needs to honor this. Back in the day, there was a huge distinction between safe, solid cars, to the rickety economic cars. Cars who wanted safety would get certain cars, while the others couldn’t afford them. Today, economic cars have much better quality. Another change in the automotive industry was made. While economy cars were improving quality and safety, luxury cars wee becoming well rounded. Look at Mercedes, they now have big and small, fast and fuel efficient, sporty and luxury, cheap and expensive. Where was Volvo in all of this? What direction were they going? Of course customers were interested in other stuff. With SAAB and Volvo stuck in the mud, where were the customers of the semi expensive brands go? These buyers were probably thinking that they should either move upscale, or downscale. The actual target market split directions! Hahah worst scenario basically. I see this as a big truth.
With Volvo selling vehicles that are sorta luxury, there is little validation to the desire for these cars. Is the S80 really worth $50000 to you? What is it based off of? What sexy, cool, desirable Volvo element makes you say, “ah this is the all in one Volvo I want!” There is no source of higher relationship with these cars since there is nothing all that exciting in the Volvo lineup! Why do people buy the 3 series? Well I think its because it is a small representation of a big grand BMW that is affordable. Why do people buy the E class? Well its because it is the overall Mercedes package that has a bit of S class, a bit of cls, not too big, not too expensive, more prestige than a Volvo, Voila! Volvo does not have greatness to have much represented in their vehicles. If they want to continue in this direction, they need to add some special, gratifying vehicles. A legit coupe, a larger 4 door coupe, a nice decked out XC90 and some RWD sexy back!
The market today has better quality cars than there were 30 years ago. This does not mean that people are willing to pay exactly what they want, because these cars are now marginalized, MARGINALIZED!!!!!! This has segregated peoples willingness to pay for cars between luxury and economy. Heck even economy cars are getting nice (ford Taurus, Chrysler 300, Toyota Avalon).
What we want Volvo to be may be completely irrelevant to what it should be. Volvo should be profitable enough to support interesting and beautiful vehicles. This may take some research on the market, and careful planning, but I believe that once Volvo can get about 700000 to 900000, they can really become a whole new brand. The projects like the Audi R8, the A7 and the BMW i8, the X6 and the Mercedes SLS took some diligence, but I think were worth waiting for. I don’t think that there is a single executive that doesn’t find it completely awesome that they make such cool vehicles.