Volvo Cars COO Steven Armstrong Leaving to Join Ford
 Steven Armstrong (2005 File Photo) |
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New York, NY Oct 5, 2010; Ola Kinnander writing for Bloomberg reported that Steven Armstrong, chief operating officer of Volvo Cars, will leave the Swedish automaker to join former employer Ford Motor Co. as part of a management reshuffle under new Chief Executive Officer Stefan Jacoby.
Armstrong, 46, will return to Cologne, Germany-based Ford of Europe, Volvo said an e-mailed statement today. Volvo also named Freeman Shen as head of its Chinese operations. Shen was adviser to Li Shufu, chairman of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., which bought Volvo from Ford last month.
“We’re going through a very important and turbulent period for Volvo Cars,” Jacoby said in the statement. “To quicken the decision process while making sound decisions it’s important to broaden the company management.”
Jacoby wants to double Volvo’s global sales to 800,000 cars in 10 years, he said last week. China, where Volvo aims to build local production plants, has the biggest growth opportunity, while the Gothenburg-based carmaker also needs a long-term U.S. strategy, he said at the Paris Motor Show.
Volvo sold 334,808 cars worldwide last year, a decline of 11 percent from 2008 and 27 percent from a peak of about 460,000 in 2007, according to the company.
Volvo said its restructuring includes making the heads of product development, production, purchasing and quality report directly to Jacoby instead of to a chief operating officer, a position the carmaker has eliminated.