Volvo Says No to an S-Class or 7 Series Rival

Volvo has no plans to compete with the flagship sedans from Mercedes-Benz and BMW according to a recent interview with Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson.

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Volvo has no plans to compete with the flagship sedans from Mercedes-Benz and BMW according to a recent interview with Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson. Samuelsson told Automotive News China that a large flagship sedan doesn’t fit into Volvo’s “green image” and Volvo customers wouldn’t even consider a model of that size.
“We don’t have any ambitions to go into a segment where we would compete with vehicles that have V8 or V12 engines,” Samuelsson said. “We don’t believe it would fit our brand image.”

There have been talks about Volvo eventually competing with BMW, Audi and Mercedes, especially after Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. purchased the brand from Ford. Then Volvo CEO Stefan Jacoby also felt that a large luxury sedan wouldn’t fit into Volvo’s lineup and his successor Samuelsson feels the same way.

This means that the S80 will continue to be the largest sedan in Volvo’s lineup. Volvo’s new SPA platform will be the basis for the upcoming XC90 replacement and the next S80.

Automotive News