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Old 02-10-2015, 09:19 AM   #1
XDCX
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Default How will loyal Volvo owners react to the China-built 2016 S60?

How will loyal Volvo owners react to the China-built 2016 S60?




The China-built 2016 Volvo S60 is expected to arrive at U.S. dealers in June and Volvo expects to sell about 5,000 vehicles per year.

The Volvo S60 will be the first mainstream China-built vehicle sold in the U.S. and I'm wondering how loyal Volvo owners will respond to the prospect of buying a vehicle that was built in China?

When I think of Volvo I think of boring, but reliable, cars that focus heavily on safety and are built by blond hair/blue eyes employees in an assembly plant in Sweden. Granted, that's a massive stereotype but I bet my mental image is pretty close to what most people think of when they're asked about the Volvo brand.

Will Volvo S60 buyers care about where their car was built? My bet is it will be mostly a non-event and the S60 will be the first in a long stream of vehicles U.S. car buyers see imported from China. Your thoughts....?
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Old 02-10-2015, 10:11 AM   #2
steve_biegler
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The world continues to shrink. Only the die hard Volvo guys (both of them) will care.

If initial quality is good I don't think it will matter, heck look at the Jeep Renegade, if I recall they are going to be built in Italy.

Harley Davidson seems to be the only company that keeps it customers with a "I'd rather push my Harley than ride anything else" mentality.
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Old 02-10-2015, 12:47 PM   #3
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I would buy one, as it is now made by non-union employees. I hope the first venture from China does not turn out to be the first three ventures from Korea...Daewoo, early Hyundai, and early Kia. Also, I doubt the Volvo of America will be plastering all over the showroom, that this is an import from CHINA. they will make it as quiet as possible....cricket...cricket!
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Old 02-11-2015, 09:57 AM   #4
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Originally Posted by steve_biegler View Post
The world continues to shrink. Only the die hard Volvo guys (both of them) will care.

If initial quality is good I don't think it will matter, heck look at the Jeep Renegade, if I recall they are going to be built in Italy.

Harley Davidson seems to be the only company that keeps it customers with a "I'd rather push my Harley than ride anything else" mentality.
I remember taking a trip to Hawaii in the early 90s and I saw a Toyota with a state issued "Pearl Harbor Survivor" license plate. At that point I was pretty much convinced there's a large, and growing, segment of the public that doesn't care where their products come from.
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Old 02-11-2015, 10:03 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 57years View Post
I would buy one, as it is now made by non-union employees. I hope the first venture from China does not turn out to be the first three ventures from Korea...Daewoo, early Hyundai, and early Kia. Also, I doubt the Volvo of America will be plastering all over the showroom, that this is an import from CHINA. they will make it as quiet as possible....cricket...cricket!
Concerning quality, my bet is the 2016 S60 will be an excellent car.

The company that bought Volvo's car operations, Geely, is well capitalized and has the resources to buy the technology/equipment that's necessary to produce great cars.

Concerning Volvo's marketing as it relates to the country of manufacture, I agree that every effort will be made to minimize the "Made in China" aspect of the car and promote quality, safety, reliability, etc. instead.
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Old 02-11-2015, 01:01 PM   #6
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I remember taking a trip to Hawaii in the early 90s and I saw a Toyota with a state issued "Pearl Harbor Survivor" license plate. At that point I was pretty much convinced there's a large, and growing, segment of the public that doesn't care where their products come from.
Brings back memories of my Dad. He volunteered and served in the Marines, First Division, in WWII and fought and was wounded in combat on both Peleliu and Okinawa. Dad was a quiet, soft spoken man, who almost never uttered a derogatory remark about anyone. He truly was one of "The Greatest Generation", and returned from horrific experiences and never discussed them, despite prodding from a son who grew up on a diet of WWII movies and TV shows. The only thing I ever drug out of him, was while I was in high school, as we were traveling to our deer lease together, with me asking more questions about the war. He simply looked at me and said "Son, all I'm going to tell you is I hope that you never have to see or do the things that I did."
Even at that age, I recognized the emotion on his face and in his voice as he said that, and I never asked him about it again. The only other times the subject was ever spoken of was years later when he was a franchised dealer and various sales reps would come by trying to sell some product to the dealership. My Dad would sometimes sit patiently and listen to the pitch even if he wasn't interested, just to be polite. BUT...if the salesman drove up in a Japanese manufacturer's vehicle, he wouldn't be rude, but when they asked if they could have a few minutes of his time, he would calmly tell them "no, I'm sorry, but you're driving a car built by a country that tried it's best to kill me, and DID kill a bunch of my friends, and I will never forgive them for it, nor will I do business with someone that does."
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Old 02-11-2015, 01:06 PM   #7
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hear, hear! Thank you for posting this!
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Old 02-11-2015, 07:43 PM   #8
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I think that Volvo's launch of a Chinese-built S60 will be a non-event. Even with these Chinese built S60s out there, the majority of what US consumers will buy are still made in Torslanda, Sweden and Ghent, Belgium.

Only the long wheelbase S60L will be built at the Chengdu plant and brought stateside. Even Volvo themselves has noted that the vehicle will be a niche vehicle at best, as not too many US customers will demand the additional rear legroom afforded by the S60L.

In the end, I don't think that too many buyers in the near-luxury and luxury segments could even tell you where their cars are made. Otherwise I don't think we would see as many South Carolina-built BMWs, Alabama-built Daimlers and South Africa-built BMWs and Daimlers alike!

In the grand scheme of things, I don't Canadians were too up in arms about being handed a Chinese built Honda Fit a few years back... there seem to be some concerned forum posts, but definitely in the minority.
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Old 02-13-2015, 12:29 PM   #9
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Only the long wheelbase S60L will be built at the Chengdu plant and brought stateside. Even Volvo themselves has noted that the vehicle will be a niche vehicle at best, as not too many US customers will demand the additional rear legroom afforded by the S60L.
Thanks for the clarification. I knew that Volvo was only planning to sell about 5,000 units but I didn't realize that only the long wheelbase S60 was going to be imported from China. I agree that it's likely to be a non-event.

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In the grand scheme of things, I don't Canadians were too up in arms about being handed a Chinese built Honda Fit a few years back... there seem to be some concerned forum posts, but definitely in the minority.
I always thought it was interesting that Honda limited the Chinese-built Fit to the Canadian market - I'm guessing they made a decision that importing a Chinese-built/Honda branded vehicle to the U.S. would be too controversial.
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Old 02-28-2015, 06:03 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by XDCX View Post
Thanks for the clarification. I knew that Volvo was only planning to sell about 5,000 units but I didn't realize that only the long wheelbase S60 was going to be imported from China. I agree that it's likely to be a non-event.



I always thought it was interesting that Honda limited the Chinese-built Fit to the Canadian market - I'm guessing they made a decision that importing a Chinese-built/Honda branded vehicle to the U.S. would be too controversial.
I think Volvo Cars of North America is being a little optimistic in thinking that they will sell 5,000 of the S60 long wheelbase models in a single year... I don't have the figures in front of me, but I don't think the normal S60 sells more than 12,000 units a year in the US... but we will see. Volvo is actually post record profits even though in the US market they are pretty much the only brand consistently down year over year.

The Canadian market is so small car focused that my guess is that the Fit would be a success in Canada whether it was built in Japan, China or Egypt for that matter.
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