The automotive rumor mill can be a lot like the lunchroom at a middle school – full of chatter and gossip concerning some far-fetched topics.
Case in point: Volvo’s CEO Hakan Samuelsson told Automotive News China that Volvo has no plans to build a luxury flagship sedan that would compete against the BMW 7 series, Mercedes-Benz S Class, or the Audi A8. “We don’t believe it would fit our brand image,” Samuelsson said.
The idea of Volvo building a luxury flagship originated in 2010 when Geely Holding Group purchased Volvo from Ford. Apparently, Geely Chairman Li Shu Fu suggested Volvo offer vehicles that directly competed with BMW, Mercedes, and Audi.
Volvo’s then CEO Stefan Jacoby was the first to denounced the idea by saying a large luxury sedan wouldn’t fit the company’s image. Volvo seems to be maintaining that position, even three years later with statements like, “We don’t have any ambitions to go into a segment where we would compete with vehicles that have V-8 or V-12 engines,” and that a large flagship wouldn’t be a part of Volvo’s “Green Image” and customers wouldn’t even consider purchasing a vehicle like that.
