Volvo Is Winning Over Buyers With a Sleek New Look

“We were a bit over-optimistic, I think, all of us in the business,” Mr. Samuelsson said. “It’s more difficult than we thought.”

Now Volvo must find ways to capitalize on the good will it acquired during the pandemic. “If they want to see sales in the next decade, they have to make sure that the innovative styling and innovative tech in the vehicles remain in a leadership position,” Mr. Edwards said.

Volvo must also confront shifting demographics. “The consumers who are innovators, and who are buying for aesthetics, are always in emerging markets and ethnic minorities. This is especially true of Black car buyers in America,” Mr. Edwards said, citing data. “One thing that Volvo has suffered from is being a very white, college-educated — if not the professor — brand. They’ve started to finally bring in diversity in a positive way, but not as well as their competition.”

Mr. Edwards took a firm stance on this issue. “They really need to think about who the U.S. consumer is going to be in 10 years. The next group of luxury buyers is going to look fairly different from how they look today, and Volvo is not top of mind for those buyers.”

Finally, Volvo must re-confront the box. Because electric cars lack an engine, a gas tank, a transmission and an exhaust system, they can break conventions and create new forms. But as designers seek to maximize interior space — minimizing the length of the hood and incorporating the trunk into the vehicle as in a sport utility vehicle — they end up with a familiar shape.

“We’re pushing students to re-envision what’s possible with all this new packaging,” said Mr. Snyder, of the College for Creative Studies. “And so it’s sort of sneaking up on what we call a one-box shape.”

The first concept that Volvo has shown to indicate its design direction under electrification is called the Recharge, and it is, decidedly, boxy.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/22/business/volvo-electric-future-design-ipo.html