Volvo ＂de-China＂？ Geely regained control in 3 days.

A real version of the commercial war blockbuster is being staged inside Volvo.

Compared with the unpretentious means of grabbing the official seal, taking candid photos over the wall, and destroying the tree of making money for the family, Volvo’s commercial war appears to be "high-end".

Last week,"The management of Volvo Greater China was shocked.Sweden’s clique seized power,Chinese executives are suspected of being overhead. "The news is widely circulated on the internet, and there is even speculation that Volvo wants to break away from Geely’s control.

Who knows, just three days later, Geely regained the dominant position, and the event developed faster than the top-stream melon.

As the center of this storm, what happened to Volvo, which is four years away from the "century-old shop"?

Volvo high-rise earthquake

Geely regained control in 3 days.

On August 17th, Volvo announced a series of major personnel changes.

Former General Manager of Greater China Sales CompanyQin Peiji left and Martin Persson, the former general manager of sales in Japan, took over the related business.Report directly to Bjorn Annwal, Chief Commercial Officer of Volvo.

You know,At the upcoming Chengdu Auto Show,Chimpeiji originally alsoWill attend media activities, and now he has left his post, which shows that it is expect the unexpected’s decision.

President of Volvo Car Greater China continues to beYuan Xiaolin, but the work content has changed.

Main responsibilities include cooperating with CEO, management team and board of directors, handling strategic affairs such as government relations, and coordinating and managing strategic cooperation with Geely Holding Group and strategic investment in Greater China.

However, the announcement at that time did not mention that he would continue to manage the sales business in Greater China.

Therefore, some media speculated that Volvo’s most important marketing department in China was basically taken over by the Swedish headquarters, and the Chinese executives were overhead.

Faced with such a huge personnel change, many people in the industry feel that this is Swedish.A "power grab" drama was staged, and Volvo took the important step of breaking away from Geely.One step.

Who knows, just after a weekend, Geely staged a textbook-level reversal to regain control of Volvo Greater China.

On August 21st, Volvo released the latest announcement, and the biggest change was that the new general manager of sales, Martin Persson, reported to Yuan Xiaolin from the Swedish headquarters.

Therefore, some outside analysts believe that Geely regained control of the sales power in Greater China, which also means that the overhead of Yuan Xiaolin failed.

More interestingly, the new announcement also added the reasons for Qin Peiji’s departure:Joined Geely Automobile Group as Deputy General Manager of Geely Automobile Group Sales Company.

And the new announcement also made more affirmation to the performance of Qin Peiji when he was in office.

In contrast, the previous announcement was simply stated as:Leave Volvo Car Company to seek external development opportunities.

Leo never imagined that it was obviously a family, and this external opportunity actually meant Geely.

This also reflects the subtle relationship between Volvo and Geely.

A hundred years old

Surrounded by new forces in China.

Qin Peiji moved to Geely, and Yuan Xiaolin’s rights and responsibilities remained unchanged.

Under the undercurrent,We don’t know what wonderful commercial drama the two sides staged this weekend.

However, under the attack of China’s new power brands, Volvo’s life is not easy, which is obvious to all.

"New forces will, we learned in three years; We will, and the new forces will not learn in ten years. "

During the Shanghai Auto Show in April this year, Qin Peiji once released a swear word at the Volvo new car launch conference, which made the attention of this second-tier luxury brand instantly full.

It must be said that Volvo is one of the earliest traditional luxury brands to embrace electrification, and even the most radical one.

Previously, Volvo had announced that by 2025, the sales of its pure electric vehicles would account for 50% of the total sales, and in 2030, it would be completely transformed into a pure electric brand, eliminating all models equipped with internal combustion engines.

Despite the loud slogan, the market performance of Volvo New Energy in China market can only be described as average.

At present, the domestic new energy market is really too big.In particular, domestic brands with high-end positioning, such as Ideal and Weilai, have begun to erode the market of BBA first-line traditional luxury brands by virtue of the advantages of large quantity and full management.

Volvo, originally a second-tier luxury brand, has been severely compressed in its living space.

VolvoAt present, there are 7 Recharge models on sale.Among them, XC60, XC90, S60 and S90 are plug-in versions, which basically change from oil to electricity.

There are two pure electric models, namely C40 and XC40, and a flagship model EX90 that keeps jumping tickets.

According to the data of knowing the car emperor, it is the best seller here.It is XC60 Recharge, with sales of only 511 vehicles in June, and S90 Recharge ranked second with sales of 317 vehicles.

The sales of XC40 Recharge and C40 Recharge, two pure electric vehicles, were 128 and 89 respectively in June, while S60 Recharge6 sold only 22 vehicles in June.

In other words, in June this year, the monthly sales of Volvo’s new energy vehicles all added up, which barely passed the threshold of 1,000 vehicles.

Such embarrassing achievements are less than a fraction of the new domestic head forces.

Even a novice cross-border car maker like Skyworth can step on it in the field of new energy, you know.SkyworthThe delivery volume in June was 3,258 vehicles, which can be said to be a complete victory over Volvo.

Unlike the difficulties faced by China, Volvo has done quite well in overseas markets.

In July, Volvo announced its global sales. In July, the brand sold a total of 54,165 new cars, up 21% year-on-year.

Among them, the sales volume in the European market was 20,260 vehicles, up 28% year-on-year.The American market is even more magnificent, with 10,785 vehicles sold in July, which gradually approached the China market, with a year-on-year increase of 57%.

However, the sales volume in China was only 14,182 vehicles, down 8% year-on-year. Among them, the sales volume of pure electric vehicles was 253 vehicles, down 26% year-on-year, making it the only market for Volvo to decline in the world.

Perhaps it is the strong performance of overseas markets that gives the Swedish side the confidence to seize power.

"Rebellious" Swedish Princess

Once upon a time, Geely’s acquisition of Volvo was once regarded as an industry story.

The cooperation between the two parties is mainly in technology. For example, the CMA framework jointly developed by the two parties has been applied to the main models of Volvo, Geely, Lectra and other brands.

Volvo’s pure electric vehicles, such as the EX90 mentioned above, are also developed based on the Geely SEA architecture.

During the 13 years of cooperation between the two parties, Geely has achieved technological progress and brand leap, ranking among the first-class car companies in China.

Volvo not only received financial support from Geely, but also enjoyed a resource bonus from the China market.

However, Volvo always wants to hold the initiative in its hands.

As early as 2020, Geely put forward a plan to merge with Volvo, but due to the resistance of Sweden, the final plan was aborted.

In the eyes of many people, this is the performance of Volvo seeking independence and getting rid of Geely’s control.

Then why can Volvo, as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Geely, be so capricious?

This is because when Geely acquired Volvo, the agreement stipulated that Volvo had a high degree of operational independence.

"Geely is Geely and Volvo is Volvo" is the promise made by Li Shufu when he bought Volvo.

Perhaps it was the original laissez-faire that led to Volvo’s pride today.

However, after 13 years of development, VolvoOn the technical level, the value that can be provided to Geely has become less and less.In the electrified battlefield, Volvo is helpless in the face of the attack of new forces.

After this "power grab" incident, Geely may not have much patience left with this proud little Nordic princess.