Hakan Samuelsson, president and CEO of Swedish carmaker Volvo Cars Group, emphasized the importance and potential of the Korean market for the company’s growth in Seoul on Thursday.
Samuelsson, vising South Korea for the first time since he took the reins of the company in 2012, said the Korean market is important as part of the company efforts to become a luxury brand.
Hakan Samuelsson, president and CEO of Volvo Car Group, speaks during a press conference in Seoul on Thursday. (Yonhap)
“South Korea has very tough competition in (the) premium sedan segment,” said Samuelsson, adding that success in South Korea in the premium sedan segment would be an important step for global success.
Volvo has been rapidly expanding its presence in South Korea in the past three years. Volvo’s Korean unit Volvo Car Korea saw a growth rate of 55 percent on-year in 2014 and 42 percent in 2015. In the first nine months of this year, the company’s sales grew by 26.7 percent from the same period last year, outperforming 9.7 percent on-year growth globally.
The company aims to sell 10,000 cars a year in Korea in the future, up from current 5,000 cars.
During the press conference, he called the “electrification” of cars and autonomous driving the future of the company. The company is putting investments worth $10 billion into developing electric cars and autonomous driving vehicles, Samuelsson said.
During his two-day visit, he is scheduled to meet local battery suppliers in the hopes of building partnerships in the development of electric and autonomous cars.
Electric cars that can drive as far as 500 kilometers with a fully charged battery will be introduced in 2019, Samuelsson said.
The company will launch an autonomous driving project named “Drive me” next year in Gutenberg, Sweden. A total of 100 drivers will ride in autonomous driving cars, and share their experiences and insights.
The CEO said he was satisfied with the performance of the New S90 model in Korea which has received 300 preorders since late September. The cars will be delivered to customers in November.
“We hope that the new S90 can offer an alternative in the premium sedan segment in Korea,” Samuelsson said. Volvo is planning to launch the V90 Cross Country in Korea next year and introduce globally a new lineup of its bestsellers such as the XC60.
By Park Ga-young (
gypark@heraldcorp.com)
