Volvo will put a five-door Golf and Focus rival on the market by 2012, says the company's new boss Stefan Jacoby, at the expense of a replacement for the XC90 SUV - which has been postponed.
Word on the webosphere is that Jacoby and Volvo's new owners Geely want to push the brand up to an annual volume of 800,000 cars in the next 10 years - it chucked out 350,000 cars in 2009.
30 per cent of that will come from China - where Volvo is planning to build a new factory. In a remarkable bout of refreshing and straightforward honesty, Jacoby also admitted that Volvo needs to work on its brand image.
"We need to focus on luxury. I don't believe in the word 'premium,'" he says. "It sounds like you are making people pay for something they do not necessarily get. Volvo has lost its distinguishing points as a product. You can immediately recognize you are sitting in a BMW or an Audi for example, and I don't think Volvo is there yet."
That means the new Golf rival will get a new corporate 'face'. "A new face is something we are looking at. We need a more distinguishing front end, and this will be the first step in our new models," says Jacoby.
Building boxy estates that can carry an entire Battersea Dog's Home-worth of Labradors, Stefan - that's where Volvo's image is strongest. Then taking them racing. There's your distinguishing points...