Volvo Faces Identity Crisis In U.S.
Posted in: Uncategorized
Volvo Cars on June 6 confirmed seeking a global lead creative agency. But Volvo needs more than a global ad campaign — it needs to re-establish its credibility and voice in the U.S.
The Swedish auto brand once defined safety and durability, but is now struggling through “an identity crisis,” said Edmunds.com analyst Michelle Krebs. Moreover, it does not have any new models in the U.S. this year and isn’t flexing media muscle comparable to rivals Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Sales are sliding as it cedes ground to rising challengers such as Volkswagen’s Audi.
The U.S. is one of the top three markets for Volvo, which Ford sold to China’s Geeley Automotive for $1.3 billion in 2010. (The others are Europe and China.) But Volvo’s U.S. sales are falling at a time when most carmakers are reporting growth. Year-to-date sales fell 6% to 25,900 through the first five months of 2013, according to Automotive News DataCenter. Last year, Volvo’s U.S. sales rose 1% to 68,117 vehicles — but the tally was only half the 139,000 vehicles sold during Volvo’s peak U.S. sales year of 2004.
Post a Comment