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Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson is not wasting any time.
On April 1, the first day of his second tenure as Volvo CEO, Samuelsson outlined a three-point plan for the automaker, according to multiple sources.
Samuelsson, 74, was named Volvo CEO March 30 to succeed Jim Rowan, 59.
Samuelsson’s first priority is that Volvo will remain committed to going full electric, something Samuelsson initiated while CEO from 2012-22, but with a “judicious introduction of plug-in hybrids” because of the slower-than-expected uptake of battery-powered cars, a person close to Samuelsson told Automotive News Europe.
Volvo has refreshed the XC90 large SUV and will do the same to the XC60, its global bestseller. Both vehicles are sold as plug-in hybrids. The XC60 was Europe’s bestselling PHEV in 2024 and leads that category after two months of 2025.
Volvo said April 2 that its first-quarter vehicle sales fell 6 percent to 172,219.
Sales of the automaker’s full-electric cars were down 15 percent during the quarter to 32,449, while its plug-in hybrid sales rose 14 percent to 42,034.
The Volvo EX30 EV, which was Europe’s No. 3-selling full-electric car last year, is built in China, subjecting it to an EU tariff of nearly 30 percent, up from 10 percent previously.
In response, Volvo will add production of the electric small SUV to its factory in Belgium this year. Volvo expects to benefit from EX30 production in Ghent by the second half. Until then Volvo plans to absorb the cost of the extra tariffs on China-made EX30s exported to Europe.
Global sales of the small SUV were down 19 percent to 7,055 in March but up 19 percent to 17,331 in the first quarter, according to Volvo’s figures.
Samuelsson wants more synergies with Geely
The second point on Samuelsson’s plan is to accelerate synergies with parent Geely to address the automaker’s declining gross margins. In the last quarter of 2024 Volvo’s gross margin fell to 17.1 percent from 20.9 percent during the same period the year before. Gross margin is the percent of revenue that the company retains after covering the costs associated with the cars it makes and services it provides.
Volvo on Feb. 6 reported a decline in fourth-quarter operating profit and predicted a turbulent 2025 with challenging market conditions.
The automaker said it did not expect the market to grow at the same rate as in previous years, and that increased competition, particularly from Chinese rivals, was likely to mean price cuts across the sector.