Volvo Cars, the premium car maker, has announced new financial and operational ambitions that will position the company as a leading player in the global automotive business by the middle of the next decade.
On the operational side, it expects to generate half of all sales annually from fully electric cars, one third of all cars sold to be autonomous driving cars and half of all cars it offers to customers from its subscription service.
Volvo Cars expects these initiatives to transform its connection to its customer base, with the aim to build a total of over 5 million direct consumer relationships by the middle of the next decade, creating new sources of recurring revenue. This will also offer the company far greater potential to develop connected and other services for customers.
“Our customers’ expectations are changing rapidly. This means that Volvo Cars is also changing rapidly. These initiatives will help transform Volvo from being purely a car company to being a direct consumer services provider,” said Hakan Samuelsson, president and chief executive.
On the financial side, Volvo Cars aims to generate premium level profitability in line with other premium car makers, driven by increased sales and revenues across all three global sales regions, and a broader range of cars including sales to the new segment of autonomous ride-hailing companies.
The company’s improved financial performance will also be driven increasingly in the future by industrial synergies generated with its affiliated partner companies.
Volvo Cars expects to benefit from lower procurement costs, shared development costs and economies of scale alongside Polestar, its premium performance electric car brand, and LYNK & CO, the new global car brand in which Volvo Cars owns a 30 per cent stake.
“This paves the way for Volvo Cars to continue growing fast into the middle of the next decade,” said Mr Samuelsson. “The company has been transformed since 2010 into a global premium car company. Now it is time for this transformation to be turned into a period of sustained profitability in line with other premium brands.”
Volvo Cars achieved record profits and sales in 2017, with a 27.7 percent increase in operating profit and global sales of 571,577 cars. The results marked the company’s fourth consecutive year of record growth, underlining the transformation of Volvo’s finances and operations since being acquired by Geely Holdings. It has also expanded its global manufacturing footprint and completely renewed its model portfolio in recent years.
Volvo Car Group in 2017
For the 2017 financial year, Volvo Car Group recorded an operating profit of 14,061 MSEK (11,014 MSEK in 2016). Revenue over the period amounted to 210,912 MSEK (180,902 MSEK). For the full year 2017, global sales reached a record 571,577 cars, an increase of 7.0 per cent versus 2016. 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 571,577 cars in 2017 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 2017, Volvo Cars employed on average approximately 38,000 (30,400) full-time employees. VolvoCars 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), Chengdu and Daqing (China), while engines are manufactured in Skövde (Sweden) and Zhangjiakou (China) and body components in Olofström (Sweden).