Volvo Cars is set to relaunch in Sri Lanka in August through local partner Swedish Cars,
a subsidiary of IWS Holdings, with the introduction of the seven-seater SUV XC90, available as a four-cylinder supercharged and turbocharged petrol engine, a four-cylinder twin turbo diesel engine, or a four-cylinder supercharged and turbocharged twin engine plug-in hybrid with upto 400 horsepower; the S90, S60 and V40 are expected to follow in the near future.

Having been an employee of Volvo Cars for 27 years, how would you describe the evolution of Volvo since its buyout by zhejiang Geely Group in 2010?
Volvo is still a Swedish company. Geely is our owner, but it’s very clear that Volvo is an independent organization still headquartered in Sweden. Our owner is very clear that we have our own direction, and that’s what you see today with our Scalable Product  Architecture (SPA), Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) and XC90. Our owner has invested a lot of money to bring about the products that you see today and will see over the next few years in the market, and there’s a strong reason and rationale behind that. We sold just over 500,000 cars last year and we will sell 800,000 cars by 2020.

Volvo used to be known as the leader in safety, but competitors have long since caught up. How does Volvo aim to regain the mantle?
Volvo as a brand has always been known for safety: we designed the three-point seatbelt and didn’t patent it so everyone else can use it free of charge – a design that has saved millions of lives.
We also have a vision – by 2020, no one will get killed or seriously injured in a Volvo car. We are working towards that vision, so we’re moving from having a very safe car to preventing cars from having accidents in the first place. For example, technology like City Safety, which has evolved since 2008, is a collision mitigation system that, if the driver doesn’t react, will give a warning, and if the driver still doesn’t react, will automatically apply brakes. There are also other technologies like Pilot Assist and Park Assist Pilot.
There is also a strong push on autonomous driving. We believe it will be a safer way to transport people and safer for the people outside the car as well.

Volvo is already testing self-driving cars in Sweden, and is set to start in China and London. What is the level of this autonomous driving technology?
We are still in the early stages. We need a lot of data, which is where the trials in Sweden, London and China come in. We also need government help in making the rules and regulations regarding autonomous driving clear. Our CEO Hakan Samuelsson has publicly stated that we need government support in helping this technology to move forward.
Right now, our technology is able to support the driver, but the driver still has to drive the car. It’s not the car’s responsibility. It’s very important that people understand that. Yes, there is technology that will help the driver prevent a collision, but the driver is ultimately responsible for driving the car. Moving forward, however, our CEO has said that we will take liability for autonomous driving.

Plugin hybrids entered the Sri Lankan market only very recently. With the xC90 plugin hybrid version also to be offred in Sri Lanka, do you see this as a rising opportunity?
We think there is a lot more opportunity for plugin hybrids, not just the XC90 but other models as well. A lot, however, depends on what happens with infrastructure. With plugin hybrids and pure battery vehicles, a lot depends on infrastructure. We have no control over this. If a government wishes to decrease CO2 emissions and wants to make the air quality better, we [car manufactures] need their support to provide the infrastructure that will allow electric vehicles to take the bigger share of the market. That is happening across Europe where they have a CO2-based tax system. It’s the same in the US and China as well.

Will Volvo be lobbying the government to create the necessary infrastructure?
That’s not for us to do. We will provide the technology. It’s not for a car manufacturer to lobby governments to tell them to invest in infrastructure. It depends on the strategy of the government. We don’t get involved. If governments wish to use the technology to further their agenda, then we can work with them to help.

What are the challenges Volvo Cars faces in Sri Lanka and the global market?
We’ve been in Sri Lanka before, although not as successfully as we’d like to. As we are relaunching the brand, it’s about creating awareness. After that, I think the cars will speak for themselves, and sell themselves.
Globally, it’s always about the economy. As long as the economy continues to grow, there shouldn’t be any major obstacles.

Will ride hailing apps like Uber, which consider private car ownership its major competition and works on cutting down second car ownership and, if possible, first car purchase as well, be a threat in the future?
People will make their own choices. We will provide cars that people will want to own. If people choose to go with an app, then that’s what they need. Personally though, I don’t consider it a threat.