Geely, the new owners of Volvo would like to see the company produce flagship executive cars to compete directly with BMW, Audi and Mercedes.
Geely boss, Li Shufu said he wanted to see the Swedish car firm make more “high level cars that compete with the Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7 Series”.
Shufu said at a press conference in London that Volvo has the technology and research ability to contend with other large executive cars as well as command higher retail prices. Shufu has also said that a dive into the booming Chinese car market would demand luxury that Chinese customers could “see through their eyes and touch with their hands”. However, the comments point towards the pressure the new Volvo board will be under to keep hold of Volvo’s Scandinavian brand values as well as appeal to Chinese consumers.
Geely paid just over £1bn ($1.8bn) to buy the unprofitable Volvo and allegedly wants to almost double sales from last year’s 335,000 units. Volvo made losses of approximately £400m last year, but says that a relatively modest increase in sales should tip it back into profit.