Volvo Cars chief who came out of retirement last year to hand over reins

{"text":[[{"start":8.56,"text":"Volvo Cars chief executive Håkan Samuelsson, who came out of retirement in April 2025 following a slump in the company’s share price and struggles with the costly transition to electric vehicles, is to step down."}],[{"start":22.04,"text":"Volvo has appointed the former boss of Škoda, Klaus Zellmer, as his successor, promising “a seamless transition”. Zellmer will take over the top position by October 1 next year."}],[{"start":34.08,"text":"Since his return, the 75-year-old, who served as Volvo’s chief executive for a decade until 2022, has implemented widescale restructuring at the Geely-owned Swedish carmaker, seeking deeper integration with the Chinese auto group’s supply chain to bring down hardware costs."}],[{"start":50.8,"text":"In a statement on Sunday, Li Shufu, Geely’s founder and chair of Volvo Cars, said the board was confident that the group would “enter its next chapter with a clear ambition to strengthen its position as a leading premium car company” under Zellmer’s leadership."}],[{"start":65.64,"text":"The company last week unveiled an aggressive plan to launch 13 new models by the end of the decade and pursue further cost savings that would allow the group to hit an operating profit margin of 8 per cent and generate strong cash flows. That compared with a margin of just 1.1 per cent in the second quarter."}],[{"start":83.84,"text":"“We want to have a more regional programme. We want to utilise synergies and we want to electrify,” Samuelsson told the FT last week. “If we do all of that, I am quite confident that we will be 8 per cent better compared to if we did not do anything.”"}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":98.08,"text":"To address the geopolitical challenges, Volvo said it would also pursue a more regionalised strategy for products as well as manufacturing plants, with vehicles developed specifically for the Chinese market and separate software for China and the western markets."}],[{"start":113.6,"text":"Earlier this year, the company received regulatory approval to continue importing and selling its connected vehicles in the US after it demonstrated to authorities how the data for its cars was handled in compliance with US legislation."}],[{"start":127.2,"text":"Chinese-owned carmakers are subject to special scrutiny to ensure that their data does not go to China."}],[{"start":132.8,"text":"In addition to heading the Škoda brand, the 59-year-old Zellmer was also a board member at the Volkswagen brand and spent more than two decades at Porsche."}],[{"start":148.12,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1789947604_5630.mp3"}