Volvo Cars restructures executive management
Volvo Cars is restructuring its executive management, starting 14 April, to effectively position the company to capture business opportunities from the transformation of the automotive industry.
Under the new structure, Volvo Cars will create four new areas reporting to Chief Executive Håkan Samuelsson. The organisation is designed to ensure quicker decision making and faster execution, further developing the nimble way of working already existing within Volvo Cars.
"We have the ambition to be leaders in the transformation of our business, and this requires a leadership providing clarity for fast execution. This is the purpose behind the changes we now make in our executive management structure," said Håkan Samuelsson. "We have made many steps in the right direction in recent years, and with this restructuring we will strengthen the leadership to continue that journey."
The Commercial Operations area will be led by Lex Kerssemakers, currently in charge of Direct Consumer Business. It will include the three regional organisations of EMEA, the Americas and APAC as well as car services, online business and marketing, and brand.
Javier Varela, currently leading Manufacturing and Logistics, will lead a new Industrial Operations and Quality area, which will continue to include manufacturing and logistics as well as procurement and quality.
Product Creation will be led by Henrik Green, and includes research and development, design, product strategy and all digital areas, both internally and consumer-facing.
A fourth area, Corporate Functions, will be created to strengthen the company’s people-first culture across the business. It will be led by Hanna Fager, currently leading People Experience (HR), and will add facilities management, government affairs, sustainability and communication to the People Experience area.
Group Legal and Corporate Governance, under Maria Hemberg, and Group Finance, under Carla De Geyesleer, are not affected and will remain as stand-alone functions, reporting to Mr Samuelsson.
The new organisation will be tasked with executing the company’s ambitious plans in coming years. By the middle of this decade, Volvo Cars aims for half of its global sales to be fully electric cars and to establish five million direct consumer relationships.
Volvo Cars is also committed to an ongoing reduction of its carbon footprint across its entire operations, with the ambition to be a climate-neutral company by 2040. As a first concrete action towards this ambition, it aims to reduce its CO2 emissions per car by 40 per cent between 2018 and 2025.
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Volvo Car Group in 2019
For the 2019 financial year, Volvo Car Group recorded an operating profit of 14.3 BSEK (14.2 BSEK in 2018). Revenue over the period amounted to 274.1 BSEK (252.7 BSEK). For the full year 2019, global sales reached a record 705,452 (642,253) cars, an increase of 9.8 per cent versus 2018. 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 Cars was founded in 1927. Today, it is one of the most well-known and respected premium car brands in the world, with sales of 705,452 cars in 2019 in about 100 countries. Volvo Cars has been under the ownership of the Zhejiang Geely Holding since 2010.
In 2019, Volvo Cars employed on average approximately 41,500 (41,500) full-time employees. Volvo Cars’ head office, product development, marketing and administration functions are mainly located in Gothenburg, Sweden. Volvo Cars’ head office for APAC is located in Shanghai. The company’s main car production plants are located in Gothenburg (Sweden), Ghent (Belgium), South Carolina (US), Chengdu and Daqing (China), while engines are manufactured in Skövde (Sweden) and Zhangjiakou (China), and body components in Olofström (Sweden).
Under its new company purpose, Volvo Cars aims to provide customers with the Freedom to Move in a personal, sustainable and safe way. This purpose is reflected into a number of business ambitions: for example, by the middle of this decade, it aims for half of its global sales to be fully electric cars and to establish five million direct consumer relationships. Volvo Cars is also committed to an ongoing reduction of its carbon footprint, with the ambition to be a climate-neutral company by 2040.