Our attitude towards cars is "embarrassing"
Discussion
According to Volvo's CEO:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21708251
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21708251
BBC said:
"How many cylinders?" Haakan Samuelsson asks, nonplussed, as he gazes at the Swedish carmaker's diesel-electric hybrid car at the stand in Geneva.
"Who cares?"
To Mr Samuelsson, the question belongs to a not-so-distant past, when petrolheads with a taste for growling engines and burnt rubber were the arbiters of which cars were cool and which were not.
"Such owners want to signal 'I have an expensive car' or 'I have a sporty car'. Volvo should never do either of those. There'll never be a Volvo with a big V8 engine.
"Attitudes in society have changed. It's a bit like driving without seatbelts. Nowadays, such behaviour is just embarrassing."
Perhaps someone should tell Polestar about the 'Volvos should never be a sporty car' bit."Who cares?"
To Mr Samuelsson, the question belongs to a not-so-distant past, when petrolheads with a taste for growling engines and burnt rubber were the arbiters of which cars were cool and which were not.
"Such owners want to signal 'I have an expensive car' or 'I have a sporty car'. Volvo should never do either of those. There'll never be a Volvo with a big V8 engine.
"Attitudes in society have changed. It's a bit like driving without seatbelts. Nowadays, such behaviour is just embarrassing."
DCLXIV said:
According to Volvo's CEO:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21708251
What happened to the V80 Volvo with the big V8 engine by the way?http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21708251
BBC said:
"How many cylinders?" Haakan Samuelsson asks, nonplussed, as he gazes at the Swedish carmaker's diesel-electric hybrid car at the stand in Geneva.
"Who cares?"
To Mr Samuelsson, the question belongs to a not-so-distant past, when petrolheads with a taste for growling engines and burnt rubber were the arbiters of which cars were cool and which were not.
"Such owners want to signal 'I have an expensive car' or 'I have a sporty car'. Volvo should never do either of those. There'll never be a Volvo with a big V8 engine.
"Attitudes in society have changed. It's a bit like driving without seatbelts. Nowadays, such behaviour is just embarrassing."
Perhaps someone should tell Polestar about the 'Volvos should never be a sporty car' bit."Who cares?"
To Mr Samuelsson, the question belongs to a not-so-distant past, when petrolheads with a taste for growling engines and burnt rubber were the arbiters of which cars were cool and which were not.
"Such owners want to signal 'I have an expensive car' or 'I have a sporty car'. Volvo should never do either of those. There'll never be a Volvo with a big V8 engine.
"Attitudes in society have changed. It's a bit like driving without seatbelts. Nowadays, such behaviour is just embarrassing."
http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/volvo/s80/firs...
His comments are just pandering to the audience that Volvo want (A to B people), which he doesn’t realise never read motoring articles and so all he's done is alienating some of his current and potential customers.
Most of the people that I know who work for Volvo (ok its only 6) are the biggest petrol heads, I would have thought they would be rather embarrassed by his comments.
Most of the people that I know who work for Volvo (ok its only 6) are the biggest petrol heads, I would have thought they would be rather embarrassed by his comments.
s m said:
DCLXIV said:
According to Volvo's CEO:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21708251
What happened to the V80 Volvo with the big V8 engine by the way?http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21708251
BBC said:
"How many cylinders?" Haakan Samuelsson asks, nonplussed, as he gazes at the Swedish carmaker's diesel-electric hybrid car at the stand in Geneva.
"Who cares?"
To Mr Samuelsson, the question belongs to a not-so-distant past, when petrolheads with a taste for growling engines and burnt rubber were the arbiters of which cars were cool and which were not.
"Such owners want to signal 'I have an expensive car' or 'I have a sporty car'. Volvo should never do either of those. There'll never be a Volvo with a big V8 engine.
"Attitudes in society have changed. It's a bit like driving without seatbelts. Nowadays, such behaviour is just embarrassing."
Perhaps someone should tell Polestar about the 'Volvos should never be a sporty car' bit."Who cares?"
To Mr Samuelsson, the question belongs to a not-so-distant past, when petrolheads with a taste for growling engines and burnt rubber were the arbiters of which cars were cool and which were not.
"Such owners want to signal 'I have an expensive car' or 'I have a sporty car'. Volvo should never do either of those. There'll never be a Volvo with a big V8 engine.
"Attitudes in society have changed. It's a bit like driving without seatbelts. Nowadays, such behaviour is just embarrassing."
http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/volvo/s80/firs...
Volvo Guy said:
Or consider the environment. "People want to be responsible," he says. "And they want to show others that they are responsible, when it comes to the environment."
So its embarrassing to show others you have a performance car, but its not embarrassing to show others you have an environmental car?Neither are embarrassing.
Moron.
Also, he seems to undermine his own point slightly here:
Abba van Boringssnore said:
The V60 "can accelerate from 0-60 mph (0-100km/h) in "five seconds or something like that"
Right, so you don't know the performance statistics of the car you've just launched, but it is actually quite fast.Agree with him on safety aspects and it's generally overlooked, after that I just think the guys a Muppet. He's just admitting that Volvo don't really care about good driving cars, "Attitudes in society have changed, it's a bit like driving without seatbelts, such behaviour is just embarrassing".
Must be some hypocritical abstract thinking there buddy, last time I checked you released a flash Hot Hatch called a V30 (You know the one with the engine used in a Focus ST) and it ain't cheap either.
That self admitted brilliance is why BMW / AUDI and FORD are pounding you into the ground with sales figures.
Must be some hypocritical abstract thinking there buddy, last time I checked you released a flash Hot Hatch called a V30 (You know the one with the engine used in a Focus ST) and it ain't cheap either.
That self admitted brilliance is why BMW / AUDI and FORD are pounding you into the ground with sales figures.
DCLXIV said:
According to Volvo's CEO:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21708251
After just looking at your profile, dont be worrying yourself. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21708251
BBC said:
"How many cylinders?" Haakan Samuelsson asks, nonplussed, as he gazes at the Swedish carmaker's diesel-electric hybrid car at the stand in Geneva.
"Who cares?"
To Mr Samuelsson, the question belongs to a not-so-distant past, when petrolheads with a taste for growling engines and burnt rubber were the arbiters of which cars were cool and which were not.
"Such owners want to signal 'I have an expensive car' or 'I have a sporty car'. Volvo should never do either of those. There'll never be a Volvo with a big V8 engine.
"Attitudes in society have changed. It's a bit like driving without seatbelts. Nowadays, such behaviour is just embarrassing."
Perhaps someone should tell Polestar about the 'Volvos should never be a sporty car' bit."Who cares?"
To Mr Samuelsson, the question belongs to a not-so-distant past, when petrolheads with a taste for growling engines and burnt rubber were the arbiters of which cars were cool and which were not.
"Such owners want to signal 'I have an expensive car' or 'I have a sporty car'. Volvo should never do either of those. There'll never be a Volvo with a big V8 engine.
"Attitudes in society have changed. It's a bit like driving without seatbelts. Nowadays, such behaviour is just embarrassing."
Edited by daemon on Friday 8th March 14:09
The Wookie said:
There have been and always will be sanctimonious tossers.
Until Volvo are the biggest car maker in the world purely based on the notion indifference then we have little to worry about... Oh no wait what about GM, we're dooomed!
GM make loads of V8s. So do Ford, Toyota and VAG. Clearly, V8 = Success.Until Volvo are the biggest car maker in the world purely based on the notion indifference then we have little to worry about... Oh no wait what about GM, we're dooomed!
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