Interview with Thomas Andersson, Vice President, International Volvo Cars

  • Apr 26, 2013
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Vice President, International Volvo Cars, Thomas Andersson talks about Volvo's future model line-up, the Volvo Polestar Joint Venture and about the V40 Cross Country that is to launched in India this summer

Thomas Andersson, Vice President - International Volvo Cars and Sudeep Narayan, Marketing and PR Director, Volvo Auto India

The launch of the Volvo V40 Cross Country is an eagerly awaited one. The V40 Cross Country is a vehicle that will target the young luxury car buyer, a clientele that all luxury car makers in India are looking at. 

On the global front, Volvo has put the first Polestar tuned vehicle into production, the Volvo S60 Polestar. 

ZigWheels talks to Thomas Andersson, Vice President - International Volvo Cars and Sudeep Narayan, Marketing and PR Director, Volvo Auto India about Volvo’s global plans as well as India plans, the direction in which the Volvo Polestar joint venture is headed and about what we can expect from the V40 Cross Country in India. 

ZW: Bearing in Mind Volvo’ vision 2020 what made you put a Polestar vehicle into production?

TA: Volvo does not feel that its Polestar range could affect its safety aspect. But an extension of the brand in a different direction.  Polestar wanted to get their commercial arm in place and the JV with Volvo was the ideal way to go forward. 

The Volvo Polestar relationship works very well as they take care of the performance aspect while we take care of the entire model range. The Volvo Polestar relationship has grown steadily over the years. 

We did introduce the R range of performance Volvos in the 90s but we were not very consistent on that front due to our area of focus, its good to have someone whose passion and business line is performance. The combination is very interesting. 

Safety is always at the fore front for us. But at the end of the day safety is also dependent on the driver. 

ZW: Is Polestar and Volvo looking at entering any other racing championships apart from the STCC?

TA: We are looking. If we find something appealing in our line of performance at a reasonable cost, then we shall definitely consider it.

ZW: What are your Volvo Polestar plans for the future? Any particular models under consideration for the future? 

TA: Not at the moment. Although I think it could make sense to have that performance on an XC60 since the people relate the Volvo brand very well to the XC line of vehicles. 

Thomas Andersson, Vice President - International Volvo Cars

ZW: The S60 Polestar concept packed in 515PS of power, what was the reason for toning the production version down to 354PS?

TA: That was a one off. If you want to produce a certain volume then we have to soften it a bit and take the performance up step by step. The vehicle is definitely capable of more performance as we have seen, but here it is also down to the facets of the Volvo brand. We want our vehicles to be multipurpose and not focus on one aspect alone. It should be able to deliver a comfortable and safe ride and then deliver high performance when demanded. It should serve all the purposes under different situations as required by the owner.

ZW: Are there any plans to introduce any sub brand to Polestar focussing on ECU remaps and body kits like that on the V40?

TA: I am sure that Polestar would want that at some point but it’s not a plan as of now. 

SN: There is an upgrade in power output 20-30 hp more from Polestar’s side. That, we are looking at bringing to India as an after market option. At the moment, we cannot confirm a date for introducing it in India. 

ZW: Tell us about Volvo’s global plans? Any new models under consideration?

TA: As far as global plans go we have two major things happening in the next generation course for Volvo. 

One is the completely new engine architecture. Based on four cylinder technology. There will only be two engines for the entire model range, one will be a 1.6 litre unit and the other will be a 2.0 litre unit. Both engines will be turbocharged and will be very efficient. The same engine block will have flexible configuration and different power outputs for different models. 

The second aspect will be the introduction of a modular platform called Scaleable Platform Architecture (SPA). That will be the base for the next generation of Volvo cars. We have not confirmed when the next generation of Volvo cars will go into production. In the meantime we will launch our revamped model range globally.

Sudeep Narayan, Marketing and PR Director, Volvo Auto India

ZW: What are your plans for India?

TA: We are going to launch our biggest model facelift that will include substantial changes and improvements for all Volvo vehicles and these facelifted vehicles should make it to India within a year roughly depending on homologation. We would like to get the vehicles in as soon as possible. 

SN: Volvo typically launches models faster than all the three Germans. V40 started production early December and we are bringing the car to India within 6 months. 

We expect good growth in India and we got some good numbers last year. We plan to set our infrastructure in place and widen our service network and get our ducks in a row before planning anything bigger. 

ZW: When do you plan to launch the V40 Cross Country in India and at what expected price?

SN: We don’t have a date but it will be between 15 June and 15 July. The reason for the uncertainty of launch at the moment is due to homologation. 

There is no expected price at this moment and we are not looking at introducing any stripped out base variants. We are going to launch a specced up fully loaded vehicle, we are not going for a price sensitive product, we are going for a value packed vehicle. That will include features which vehicles in the segment of the S60 and S80 don’t have. 

ZW: How does Volvo India plan to position itself in India against Merc, BMW, Audi, Jag? Apart from the safety aspects.

TA: Safety is the core, we will always maintain that. Having said that Volvo also places great importance in constructing a strong and capable vehicle while focusing on the comfort and ergonomics inside the vehicle. We want to get people into our cars and make them drive the vehicles for them to understand the all round potential of Volvo vehicles. 

ZW: You are already running driver training programmes for CVs. Any such campaign for passenger car drivers considering India’s accident track record?

SN: We have no such plans as of now due certain limitations. But yes, if there is a bigger safety campaign being conducted then we can definitely support such an initiative.

Also read: Jeev Milkha Singh becomes Volvo India brand ambassador

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