Volvo Cars North America President Doug Speck Speaks

Doug Speck, President and CEO of Volvo Cars North America covered a lot of ground in his speech in Los Angeles yesterday. Methodically discussing each vehicle and the uncertainty surrounding not only the industry but Volvo's fate when Ford picks a buyer for the Swedish car company.

The Volvo XC60, introduced at the 2008 Geneva Auto Show and on sale for a month now in the U.S. is a "no apologies product from Volvo" according to Speck who "expects it to be the volume product in range until we get to the S60". Speck says "the new S60 next year is critical to grow Volvo".

The standard City Safety feature on the XC60 is all a buzz and Speck likened the technology to a swarm of locusts who fly in tight formation and never crash, let lone touch each other at high speeds. City Safety is a radar-based system that recognizes vehicles and pedestrians and applies the brakes to avoid a collision. Many of us experienced it yesterday going 5 miles an hour into a row of cones and having the vehicle brake for us. And on that note, Speck stated that "by 2020 no one should ever die driving a Volvo".

On the industry, Speck recited Ford's 2009 U.S. total sales projection of 10.5 million and his dealers have seen "the best traffic since the end of the 3rd quarter last year".

For Volvo, Speck says there will be refreshed a C30 and V70 in the first quarter of 2010 and a new micro-hybrid in 2011. Volvo is pursuing plug-in hybrids and plans to bring diesel powered vehicles to North America.

As far as Volvo's ownership, Speck says "Ford is speaking to interested parties" and will wait for the right price but when the deal is made, likely this year, he expects Alan Mulally's team to complete it quickly. He says Volvo's plan for untangling from Ford has been worked through.

Volvo is known for safety and Speck even pointed out that this is the 50th anniversary of the 3-point seat belt, which has saved more lives than any feature. "Volvo released the patent to the industry at no cost" according to Speck, and, if you've recently rented the movie Flash of Genius, the story of the intermittent wiper, you'll know that Volvo's contribution was a big one. And speaking of Genius, Volvo Car Corporation just received the prestigious "Genius 2009" award from Allianz insurance company for the City Safety system. 

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• Posted by: Richard Saxton April 15, 2009, 10:07 AM
• Categories: Auto Executives