Volvo PR Responds To 'Spy' Report From Reader Regarding C30's Being Shipped Back To Sweden Due To Slow Sales

A few days ago we published a rumor submitted to us by a Ford insider regarding Volvo's new C30 being shipped back to Sweden due to slow sales.

Apparently, the rumor is not true and the Spies can only surmise at this point that our source is a disgruntled Ford employee trying to stir up trouble.

Here is the response from Volvo PR.

I've followed AutoSpies.com since its inception and, while I find the site to be often entertaining and informative, the site's credibility is compromised when a false story is published.  The claim that Volvo C30s are being shipped back to Europe is bogus and, I can only surmise, has to be a total fabrication.

Here's why: Every vehicle shipped to the United States is, of course, a U.S.-spec car.  That means it meets the standards set by the U.S. Government.  European countries have different standards for things such as emissions, tire noise, safety, software, headlights, instrument clusters, etc.  Common sense should make it clear that a U.S.-spec car won't be sold in Europe and a European-spec car won't be sold here. The time and money spent by a manufacturer to retrofit a car would be astronomical.

I will point out, too, that May and June were the two best months ever for C30 sales in the United States.  Our 2008 sales are very close to our projection.

From a journalistic perspective, I'm surprised the writer didn't call us to do any fact-checking or ask for a response.  The only "source" for the story was someone inside...Ford?!?  That's sloppy reporting and your readers deserve better.  Whoever wrote the piece deserves a proverbial tongue-lashing from you because the story served no purpose, was untruthful and misled your readers.

The decision to keep the story on your site rests with you.  By keeping it on your site, though, you risk losing your readers' trust.

Geno

___________________________________
Geno Effler
Vice President, Public Affairs
Volvo Cars of North America

Geno,

We do our best to check our sources and in this case the source couldn't have been any stronger.

But what we can't judge is the INTENT of why certain people say certain things.

We report, people decide.

SHOWTIME - 7/30/2008 4:07:52 PM

+3 Boost

Yea you're right Agent001, fake rumors can be fun sometimes :)...leave it to us to decide...

0to60 - 7/30/2008 4:27:48 PM

0 Boost

This guy sounds like some PR person! Of course he would have nothing negative to report or say about the brand.

0to60 - 7/30/2008 4:28:15 PM

0 Boost

I would rather speak to the disgruntle employee, lol. They would have everything negative to say about the brand.

Shredmo - 7/30/2008 5:28:37 PM

+1 Boost

Regardless of sales, can they sell US spec cars in Europe?
I have heard of US spec. vehicles in Europe via military personnel for personal use, but never thought about the retail sale of such a vehicle.

chewy - 7/30/2008 5:28:50 PM

+2 Boost

Makes 100% sense as you can't sell a US market vehicle in Europe and elsewhere exactly like he said.

Bmw8ter - 7/30/2008 5:48:38 PM

+1 Boost

I don't think so personally. Too much for too little. A C70 will easily run you $50k on a dealer lot. And it only has a 227hp engine; the old C70 had more power than that. Their the only "premium" car company I know of that went backwards on the engine power.

Saab is really no better; still pretty pricey for a FWD car. But, if I had to choose between the two, I'd take a Saab in a heartbeat.

quizz - 7/30/2008 5:32:27 PM

+8 Boost

"We report, people decide." That's a bit irresponsible if what you report is completely false. It's one thing to report something that's factual, and we decide what it means, but quite another to report something that is completely inaccurate. Journalistic integrity is black and white - either the reporter is reporting the "facts" or it is not the facts, there is no in-between. If it is an "opinion"/commentary/editorial than say so. But if something is disseminated as a "fact", then there is an accountability attached to it.

Autospies can't just say "oh well, I guess it wasn't the facts, you guys decide if it's true or not, we just throw out rumors haphazardly," if they want to maintain readership interest. For example, if the article about the C30 was prefaced by "This rumor has yet to be confirmed or corroborated, but a source within Ford is saying that...," it would be a bit more palatable.

09CTSVforMe - 7/30/2008 5:47:32 PM

+10 Boost

Wow...someone actually took autospies.com as real reporting "journalism"?

That Volvo PR guy just gave this website more credibility than it's ever seen! lol

Agents = reporters? I think not. Sorry. When has a story's "source" been checked around here beyond checking the link to the website that originally produced it?

Hell...half the time "spelling" and "grammar" aren't "checked."

This should be considered nothing more than a link-posting-auto-entertainment site.

0to60 - 7/30/2008 6:33:16 PM

-1 Boost

true but I def say autospies is a lot of fun and I am addicted!

AgentOrange - 7/30/2008 7:48:58 PM

+2 Boost

Agent001:
1. You say your source could not be stronger..
2. You say "we report, prople decide"..
O.K. report who your strong "source" is and we'll decide who's full of crap..
Oh, what's that, you can't report that? Executive priviledge?

michal1980 - 7/30/2008 8:52:25 PM

+4 Boost

LOL Agent001, "we make shit up" .... "you figure out what"

Agent001 - 7/31/2008 2:50:24 AM

-1 Boost

Dude, you have NO idea where this tip came from.

If you did, you would be blown away!

001

michal1980 - 7/31/2008 8:00:47 AM

+1 Boost

Agent001...

does it matter that I dont know who you blew to get your tip?

At the end of the day, Volvo said your tip was false, and in this article admitted as much.

Doesn't matter who the source is, if the source is a liar, then their worthless.

0to60 - 7/31/2008 12:22:12 AM

+1 Boost

Yet these people making the negative comments continue to come to the site... interesting... wonder if they just like to complain and this is a mechanism for them to do so...

0to60 - 7/31/2008 12:23:00 AM

+1 Boost

michal1980's comment is funny tho...

09CTSVforMe - 7/31/2008 2:03:08 PM

+1 Boost

That is why it is entertainment (for me at least).

FateZero - 8/6/2008 4:36:05 PM

+1 Boost

Agent001...

If you would have thought about it for 1 min, Gino from Volvo has a very good point. There is not a chance in hell an Auto MFG is going to pay to have cars changed from US Spec to EU Spec. It would cost a fortune and they would HAVE to sell them as Modified US Spec vehicles, as TUV requires when you import a US car(in Germany at least). This was just plain dumb to publish. Sorry, but I agree with Volvo. A story like that could have deterred some valuable buyers from buying the car. The right thing would have been to publish the story AND the formal response from Volvo together.