The redesigned Volvo S60 is pretty nice all right, but that's not enough for the new Volvo chairman, Li Shufu, who's also a co-chair of Geely, the new owner of Volvo. He wants a flagship.
"At the moment we are competing with BMW, Audi and Mercedes, but we don't have a product to compete with the BMW 7 Series and Mercedes S-Class," he told the Financial Times. "We need to fill that gap."
Li was careful to note that this is not (yet) an official decision from Volvo's new managing board, rather "[his] personal thought or idea."
Financial Times (sub.req'd)
half_ton says:
02:50 PM, 08/ 3/10
Once again no mention of the A8 . . . or LS460 or XJ. Those are all worthy competitors as well.
albook says:
06:44 PM, 08/ 3/10
Well HALF_TON, those are all solid competitors, but they're still not on the level of the S-Class and 7 Series. Ask any owner of the MB/BMW, and they will probably tell you they didn't give the aforementioned vehicles half a thought...especially the Lexus or the brand new Jag. The benchmarks of the class are the Mercedes and BMW, as is the case on an level of luxury cars (i.e. compact luxury, midsize luxury, luxury sport utility).
This big Volvo sounds like a great idea; the brand is ready to expand. But it better be great, as the Hyundai Equus appears to be a strong competitor for a great price. And it better be rear wheel drive. Looks like Volvo might beat Caddy to the punch...
greenpony says:
09:49 AM, 08/ 4/10
Um, since when does Volvo compete with BMW Audi and Mercedes? If anything they're a competitor of VW and Saab. Upscale, sure, but by no stretch of the imagination "luxury".