Volvo Shares Plunge as China Ambitions Fade for Western Carmakers

Volvo, which is majority owned by China’s Geely but based in Sweden and listed on the Stockholm exchange, said tariffs and the removal of incentives for electric cars in the United States, another critical market, added to the pressure. The company also warned more cost cutting could be ahead.

The company, however, said that the European electric vehicle market has provided some stability in an otherwise turbulent time. “Electrification is now really speeding up, and we are in the lead in the premium segment,” he said.

Mr. Samuelsson, who is preparing to hand the reins of Volvo by next October to Klaus Zellmer, a former executive at the Czech carmaker Skoda, said the company was cutting jobs and costs even more deeply and lowering research and development spending in response to the downturn.

Mr. Zellmer will inherit a job that is “even harder” than it was when his hiring was announced a month ago, according to a research note from Bernstein. “We struggle to see things improving any time soon,” the analysts wrote.

A number of Western carmakers are rapidly shaking up their strategies. Volkswagen, the German giant, said in September that it would go forward with the most sweeping restructuring in its 89-year history, cutting about 50,000 additional jobs in the face of surging Chinese competition and high energy prices.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/23/business/volvo-china-2500-job-cuts.html