Volvo Worldwide Production By Nation : 2012

S60 Model

Owned by Chinese car maker Geely since 2010, big things are promised for the marque. Renown for safety and boxy designs, it is shaking off the latter reputation by rounding off corners. However, It's hard to see where Volvo will progress from here. They need to do more than get out the sandpaper.

Worldwide production dropped 7% in 2012 as I assume they place emphasis on being more profitable, a sensible strategy if I am right in that assumption. What I found surprising is that since a Chinese owner came along, production in China has dropped to a negligible amount.

Volvo is 23rd in the world for car/LCV production of brands that make cars in more than one country. Clearly there is work to do at Volvo to broaden its appeal and extend its sales dependency beyond mainly Europe and North America. It is a well known brand internationally but needs to attract customers beyond those already loyal.

In my opinion Volvo make the safest cars in real world conditions, not just in getting five stars in crash tests. (For more on that, please click here). However, they don't do much to stir my emotions.

11	12		2011	Shr	2012	Shr
1	1	Belgium	266,245	57.7%	257,302	60.1%
2	2	Sweden	176,809	38.3%	162,814	38.0%
3	3	China	16,899	3.7%	5,678	1.3%
4	4	Malaysia	1,678	0.4%	2,464	0.6%
		Total	461,631	0.6%	428,258	0.5%

Data source: Thanks to OICA.

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