Volvo To Go Mass Volume?
#1
Posted 14 February 2011 - 11:47 PM
Read more: http://www.worldcarf...d#ixzz1Dwqb6u6d
Check out the part in bold. IMHO, I would agree with the CEO. There's no way the brand can catch up with BMW and Mercedes already unless they want to waste precious resources in the chase (and not know where the results will bring them). But they DO HAVE the fan base to fight with VW (seemingly the top 2nd tier Euro brand now) and the other 2nd tier Europeans. A strong line-up will help the brand tremendously. They need powerful n/a engines and top of the line turbos to keep the fight strong from Sweden.
"Here's a Volvo C30 mule spied during winter testing in Swedish Lapland.
Our spy photographers managed to capture the C30 mule during a fueling stop several hundred kilometers north of Volvo headquarters and we can spot a few new features already on this mule.
There's a modified bonnet on this C30 prototype and it also appears to be sporting some stying changes to the rear bumper. There seems to be a new exhaust set-up coming too for the next-generation Golf-competitor.
Volvo's CEO Stefan Jacoby has said that he intends to make Volvo squarely a volume brand and drop its premium or near-premium aspirations. So we can expect the next C30 to be a more bread and butter model for the most competitive segment in Europe (C-segment).
Last fall, Jacoby confirmed that Volvo was working on a C-segment 5-door hatch based on the C30. The Swedish automaker will likely, to keep things simple, develop the next C30 with an additional 5-door hatch body-style variant.
The current C30 comes only in a 3-door hatch configuration."
#2
Posted 15 February 2011 - 06:54 AM
#3
Posted 15 February 2011 - 09:27 AM
could be still testing or still in development. from the earlier report, i tend to believe that the direction to go 5 door for the c30 was from china instead of sweden. seems the chinese bosses are more business minded than the swedes. a 5 door hatch makes a bit more sense than a 3 door one... unless they really can compete on same ground as the mini, the fiat 500 or perhaps even the citroen ds3... which i doubt they can.
#4
Posted 16 February 2011 - 06:20 AM
#5
Posted 16 February 2011 - 12:29 PM
because Volvo are just too conservative on any new product line, every thing have to make sure it is safe....just look at how many years their took their time before launched the Xc90..and also from every of their selling car models life circuit that normally took about 8-10 years to launch new replacement..you can tell Volvo Car isn't a good business mind automobile manufacturer.
#6
Posted 16 February 2011 - 12:34 PM
hopefully the brand will be more aggressive under the new leadership. the brand needs to be pro-active in order to compete and have the right products that the public want to buy.
even in malaysia, the brand seems to be in nowhere land. not many know what volvo stands for (the old timers will think of volvo turbo and safety) today. for safety? performance? a combination? value for money? premium? performance? what do the public want? a performance s60 or a bread n butter but hi spec s60? is the s40 powershift over specced for the category? or the car can make do with a little less niceties and sell at a much lower price point?
imho, perhaps they should just follow international positioning and to move into mass sales to compete with vw, peugeot, ford, alfa (if they still count as being alive in malaysia). at least they still have some goodwill in this segment and can command a small premium. to compete with the established bmw and mercedes benz will be stretching their imagination too far already.
#7
Posted 16 February 2011 - 12:43 PM
hopefully the day will come for me to buy a volvo s60 at 170 or new xc90 at below 200k..
that will really make a different.
#8
Posted 16 February 2011 - 12:50 PM
even in malaysia, the brand seems to be in nowhere land. not many know what volvo stands for (the old timers will think of volvo turbo and safety) today. for safety? performance? a combination? value for money? premium? performance? what do the public want? a performance s60 or a bread n butter but hi spec s60? is the s40 powershift over specced for the category? or the car can make do with a little less niceties and sell at a much lower price point?
imho, perhaps they should just follow international positioning and to move into mass sales to compete with vw, peugeot, ford, alfa (if they still count as being alive in malaysia). at least they still have some goodwill in this segment and can command a small premium. to compete with the established bmw and mercedes benz will be stretching their imagination too far already.
ya, quite agreed with you on this, pick 1-2 model good model, and make it a mass products with good price, good performance, value for money.
I don't really know what volvo stand for, for me, it's just stand for safety, that's it, but nowaday consumer don't just want safety.. they want everything into a good package with good price point.
for safety i can also get a good korean car which has 5 star in all the crash test, that's good enough, why need so advance till it can auto stop when about to hit people ? and we don't do it every day...
in malaysia environment, who cares about hitting someone on the street, be practical, this is a hit and run country, especially in most asia country... from china to malaysia to japanese..(if you read the recent story of the jap racer),
thus that's most of the case, it's safer that way.. :-) and in our road, it's not that easy to hit someone coz mostly are expressway, and in taman / kampung, there are bump everywhere, this old tech already work well. Try to run thru few bump at 100km/h? see if any strong car won't break into 2, if it won't your heart also broken lar.
I think they overbuilt the safety features that people don't want to pay for.
#9
Posted 16 February 2011 - 01:03 PM
I don't really know what volvo stand for, for me, it's just stand for safety, that's it, but nowaday consumer don't just want safety.. they want everything into a good package with good price point.
for safety i can also get a good korean car which has 5 star in all the crash test, that's good enough, why need so advance till it can auto stop when about to hit people ? and we don't do it every day...
in malaysia environment, who cares about hitting someone on the street, be practical, this is a hit and run country, especially in most asia country... from china to malaysia to japanese..(if you read the recent story of the jap racer),
thus that's most of the case, it's safer that way.. :-) and in our road, it's not that easy to hit someone coz mostly are expressway, and in taman / kampung, there are bump everywhere ? this old tech already work well. Try to run thru few bump at 100km/h? see if any strong car won't break into 2? if it won't your heart also broken lar.
I think they overbuilt the safety features that people don't want to pay for.
i disagreed on your last paragraph of " I think they overbuilt the safety features that people don't want to pay for"....
overbuilt safery feature are alway better that any underbuilt feature when the time the tragic happen with lost of love one then you will regret that not having the better safety feature to protect you & your family..we should be thankfull to those that's provided us the better saftery feature in your car ... so i will not sacrify the safety feature for lower car price tag.
#10
Posted 16 February 2011 - 03:17 PM
overbuilt safery feature are alway better that any underbuilt feature when the time the tragic happen with lost of love one then you will regret that not having the better safety feature to protect you & your family..we should be thankfull to those that's provided us the better saftery feature in your car ... so i will not sacrify the safety feature for lower car price tag.
I do understand safety features is good, like strong body, many air bags, but a lot more safety features are now built with electronics and getting too advance and people maybe too rely on that. for example, i seen few videos of their failure "auto stop the car when detecting people crossing the road".. I don't know what that technology call, but it's scary.. some of this make us too rely on the tech and when the tech fail.. we hit people..
and this thing really not cheap to develop.
I do hope for a future Mass Volume volvo car.