By John Reed in London
Volvo Cars is looking for a partner to share development of its future compact models, according to its chief executive.
Stefan Jacoby told the Financial Times that the Swedish brand, whose current C30 small car is based on technology developed by its former owner Ford Motor, was looking for another carmaker to share platforms and components for forthcoming small models.
?We are open for partners,? Mr Jacoby said. ?We are open for collaboration in a win-win situation for sharing platforms, for sharing engines, and for a general higher scale of economics.?
He added that ?no decision had been made?. The company says it has not yet held detailed talks on small car co-operation, but had partners in mind.
Volvo, which is owned by China?s Zhejiang Geely, sold just under 450,000 cars last year – a 20 per cent rise on 2010, but still a small number for a mass-market producer in an increasingly competitive and scale-driven global industry.
When Ford sold Volvo to Geely for $1.5bn in 2010, the US carmaker agreed to continue providing platforms and some components for the Swedish brand for an undisclosed transition period. The C30, currently its smallest model, is based on the same platform as Ford?s Focus and is made at Volvo?s factory in Ghent, Belgium. Volvo will in March in Geneva unveil an all-new compact car, the V40, due to replace its current S40 and V50 models, but has not yet said where or how it would make it.
Carmakers are forming partnerships in a bid to pool costs in competitive areas such as small cars, where co-operation and high volumes are increasingly essential if they hope to earn a profit.
Volvo and Germany?s Siemens last year agreed to co-operate on electric car technology. Rival producer Daimler is co-operating with Renault and Nissanin a range of areas, including small cars. Earlier this month Sergio Marchionne, Fiat?s chief executive, said consolidation was unavoidable among carmakers in a difficult mass market.
Mr Jacoby, who spent most of his career before joining Volvo at Volkswagen – the industry?s most feared big producer – has vowed to double the brand?s sales to 800,000 this decade. The brand is building two car plants in China and may build an engine plant in a bid to reach its goal.
In a bid to simplify Volvo?s operations and cut costs, he is whittling down its engine portfolio from 10 to just two, one petrol and one diesel.
The larger vehicles that dominate the brand?s line-up will in future be built from a unified scaleable product architecture reminiscent of VW?s ?modular toolbox? approach, under which it builds cars of different sizes in a single place.
? The Financial Times Limited 2012