Volvo wants to create a new Chinese design team to take on Audi and Bmw

Volvo Cars wants to make sure that its next models will gratify the local tastes of the Chinese market and to achieve this, it will hire a team of designers in China. Design chief Peter Horbury said that there is a research center being set up in Shanghai's Jiading district that will be where these designers will be working.

Per-Ake Froberg, a Volvo spokesman, said that Volvo's next model will be in the premium compact segment. This model planned for 2012 is co-designed by Horbury and predecessor Stephen Mattin.
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AlleVier - 11/5/2010 2:56:43 PM

-3 Boost

Yes, it would be a smart idea to design them to your discerning tastes rather than based on what seems to be selling well.

bmwdrvr - 11/5/2010 3:14:42 PM

+4 Boost

im going to assume you dont mean in the us alle...

AlleVier - 11/5/2010 6:10:51 PM

+1 Boost

No, I definitely mean China.

MorePower - 11/5/2010 5:34:15 PM

+2 Boost

Risky idea. If there is one thing that Chinese developers have been known for of late, it has not been inspiring designs. If this is for the local Chinese market, it should be fine. If you plan on taking this idea global, be careful because styling is one of the brands traits that it can not sacrifice.

james7 - 11/5/2010 6:51:53 PM

+2 Boost

This will be the second nail in the coffin for Volvo. The first nail in the coffin was when the Chinese bought the company. If the Chinese want to build the Volvo brand as they said they want to, they need to stand aside as absentee owners/moneyed investors and keep all of Volvo (design, fabrication, production, and marketing) in Sweden.

internationalmanofmystery - 11/8/2010 10:30:06 AM

+1 Boost

And then she and dad will move on to other suitors after being defiled