New Volvo (and former VWoA) CEO Stefan Jacoby is (once again) targeting his former employer’s best selling Golf with an upcoming entry-level Volvo due in 2012. Autocar.uk reports that Jacoby has initiated a major reshuffling of Volvo’s future product line and brand positioning, which will now be (once again) based on the theme “functionality and Scandinavian elegance” and further away from sportiness. It appears this direction will also de-emphasize large CUVs, since developing a replacement for the elderly XC90 will give way (for now, at least) to the priority of a compact hatchback, which Volvo has not built since the (non-US) 1990 340 (above).
The upcoming Golf-competitor will presumably be based on the current C30, and not a new platform. But it will debut a new “face” for Volvo. Once again.
This move makes sense to me. Volvo should be an ever so slightly up market choice for what are essentially mid-market customers. Think Pontiac or Oldsmobile circa 1955.
Way back in 1994 I purchased a brand new Volvo 850. It was priced at only a few thousand dollars more than a well equipped Toyota Camry and yet felt like another whole class of vehicle. I didn’t cross shop it against Lexus, BMW or Mercedes. I cross shopped against Accord, Camry and Passat.
I like this idea a lot.
Volvo has become, over the past 10 years, basically a VW at Audi+ prices. One of the worst values in the marketplace, despite building really good cars. Just way too much money for what you get. If they could slowly reposition themselves a little more value oriented, they could stop worrying about what Lexus buyers think and start thinking about all the folks disenchanted with Saab and VW.
ash78 hit the nail on the head. My wife wants a C30 so bad it hurts. Her other lust: a Saab, we already own a VW. So we fit a profile Volvo could sell a car to. However they are just too damn expensive, for C30 money you can get a G35 which is on a whole different level in terms of performance. The new Volvo commercials show their cars having “fun” so maybe they are start to come out of their safety shell to become more mainstream.
Shouldn’t it read “Volvo free to build Focus competitior” ?
The 340/360 brings back memories, not all of them good. It had good weight distribution, RWD, rear leaf springs, and either a notoriously unreliable French engine, or a gas-guzzling 2-liter B19 block. In the seventies, when the production started, they were offered only with a rubber-band CVT.
But wait, wasn’t the 440 a compact hatchback? It was built until 1997.
My Mom had a red 460 – the 440/460 were Passat rather than Golf size.
By comparing tech specs, it seems that the 340 was actually 1cm longer than the 440. At over 4,3 meters of length they really weren’t that compact after all, at least by European standards.
The 340 wasn’t really a Volvo either. It was designed by DAF, and came to Volvo when it acquired the DAF car (non-truck) operations. Hence the CVT on these models, which was a DAF staple in those days.
DAF invented CVT so it isn’t a surprise that it was a staple.
I oh-so-want Volvos and Saabs to be cool again. Seriously. I miss those times.
Must have been 90% Volvos and Saabs registered in Cambridge, MA (read: HARVARD)
in the late sixties and early seventies. Strp over the line into Somerville… all 10 year old GM/Ford/Chrysler products.
Er, I don’t know how old you are, but Volvo’s and Saab’s were never “cool”. Volvo’s were bought by practical people who made a good income and weren’t afraid to be seen in a foreign car, while Saab’s were owned by eccentrics. In the 80’s both brands started their move up in the marketplace because European cars were so damn expensive to build and sell here in the USA forcing the low priced brands (except VW) to leave the market. But they were never as cool as the their competition. Cool people owned BMW’s or Honda’s, not Volvo’s or Saab’s.
I’m keeping it real in Somerville.
Perhaps you’ve seen my blue 242 or red 1800ES?
Saabs were VERY cool when they introduced the 99 Turbo. All the early ones were black 2-door models with distinctive silver alloys and even folk who didn’t like Saab , or FWD, had to sit up and take notice.
I have to admit that my heart gave a light jump when I saw that picture of a Volvo 340.
The 300 series volvos were rather unfairly maligned in my opinion. My father owned a 343 and a 340 in succession and the cars’ simple mechanicals and comfortable, roomy interiors meant that he didn’t even need to consider getting a different model of car from the late 70s to the early 90s.
The 300 was a very popular car back in the day and Volvo could do well to get back to its roots a little bit. While they’re at it, could they possibly think about recreating a 240/260 type saloon and estate car? There isn’t really anything on the market quire like that. They could even sell them to people who miss their Peugeot 504, Ford Granada or Mercedes W123.
Edit to Add: And yes, the Renault engines were probably unreliable and certainly underpowered but they were cheap a plentiful and comparatively easy to swap out.
“Volvo To Build VW Golf Competitor, Take 2”
And I’m the Queen of England, if I’m to take the word “competitor” seriously in this statement.
Price is the main factor here. A new Golf 2-door costs 18k, and it’s well equipped. A C30 will set you back 24.5k.
Quite a few years ago I went to a Volvo Club of America event where they had some Volvo management in to give brief presentations. The upcoming C30 was discussed along with the strategic decisions Volvo was struggling with as to whether to position the C30 as a premium small car full of fancy options like turbocharging and such or if it should start more in the cheaper and cheerful mode with up market optional configurations. I said that it should start at the lower end of the price scale in order to bring more people in to the Volvo customer fold. They didn’t listen :).
When I was looking to move away from my Jetta a year ago, I drove the c30. I really liked it, but everything was optional, and Volvo wanted to charge (I think) several hundred dollars just to order some options–this was in addition to the actual option. And items that should have been standard (cruise control) were part of an option package. It was just too arcane to get involved with, and once you added a few items it was really too expensive for what it was.
The 240/740 were where the Volvo rep came from. Not inexpensive, but built like a brick sh!thouse and great value for the money. They’ve lost that along with the safety innovation cachet. They have to do something like that again or they’ll just vanish, an also ran in a crowded world. This could be a step in the right direction as long as they can generate volume.
I’d be much more interested in a 2011 240 than a Golf competitor. How about a DL, GL and Turbo, just like in the good old days?
The 440/460 were Golf class cars – more like the Jetta in fact but same thing. My mom had a 460 and it was definitely smaller than the second gen Jetta she had before (the one based on Golf 2).
It was far from a great car and we kept it for a short time only. Qualitywise it just did not compare to the ‘Made in Sweden’ Volvo’s and sadly the seats were several grades below, too.
So what do they consider the current C30, if not a competitor to the Golf? I mean, the Golf can come in 2 or 4 doors (or 3 and 5, if you subscribe to the school of thought that a person, regardless of other more convenient means, will use a rear hatch as a “door”), while the C30 only comes in the 2 (3) door format. So I guess that alone would force some people to not even consider the C30 if they were in the market for a small, 4 (5) door vehicle like that. That fact aside though, what’s the C30 competing with now? I always just figured it was the Golf. Apparently not.
I think Volvo thought the C30 was going to be a competitor for the Audi A3.
Audi A3 is in essence a Golf in drag, and from what I perceive here, there are few customers that would not cross shop the two. Generally there is also not that much of a price difference in Europe, if you are talking equivalent versions (and most A3s here are of the small petrol, or diesel versions, just like with the Golf).
The one group of customers, who would go for an A3 but not a Golf are probably pensioners – people for whom it is the last, rather than the first Audi. In essence people who drove Audi for quite some time but no longer need the space and hassle (parking, maneuvring, etc.) of an A4 or A6, but would like to stay with the brand. And sporty is not the ticket there. That’s therefore a part of the population the C30 will have difficulties in capturing.
And if you wanted sporty (in Europe) on a Ford Focus platform (i.e. C30, S40, V50), you’d do best with the Ford Focus itself – the ST220 and the RS both have Volvo 5cyl turbo petrols, a better sound and a handling so much superior that a C30 driver will have trouble knowing which way they went. With much more space inside, too.
I like the direction Jacoby is taking, despite initial angst following the Jetta North America edition. The two important points here are: first Volvo must go back to it’s roots and not try to compete against the likes of Mercedes and Audi, and second, Volvo’s home market is Europe and effort must be made to compete it Europe, not the U.S. – that is where Ford went significantly wrong – the U.S., becoming less and less important, and with the expectation of U.S. consumers to pay bargain prices (one of the cheapest places to buy a new car), focus should be placed on important markets that are profitable.
America is no longer as important to the rest of the world as Americans think – time to get out of your Americo-centric attitudes.