Volvo Group's Lundstedt Reorganizes Company
Approximately 100 days into his tenure as CEO of Volvo Group, Martin Lundstedt announced changes in the Sweden-based manufacturer that emphasize brand names over market geography.
In a Jan. 27 conference call and press statement, Lundstedt, formerly CEO of Scania Group, said he is creating a “mandate for our sales organizations to control and develop their businesses with an explicit responsibility for profitability and organic growth.”
The truck maker’s heavy-duty North American operations, Volvo and Mack Trucks, will be more separate starting March 1. Dennis Slagle will remain a member of Volvo Group’s executive board but only as the head of Mack’s worldwide sales.
Slagle has been in charge of Volvo and Mack in North America, with Mack President Stephen Roy and Volvo President Göran Nyberg reporting to him. Slagle and Roy will remain together at Mack, which has headquarters in Greensboro, North Carolina, as does Volvo in North America.
Nyberg will stay in the United States, and his new boss will be Claes Nilsson, the global chief of Volvo Trucks, based in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Volvo Group’s two other major truck brands are UD Trucks, originally Nissan Diesel, which no longer builds new vehicles in North America, and Renault Trucks, primarily a European manufacturer.
While Volvo Group is emphasizing responsibility for its brand divisions, the company also has three truck group segments that will provide services for the four big brands: technology, purchasing and operations.
The company also makes construction equipment, buses and marine and specialty engines.
Olof Persson was Volvo Group CEO until April of last year, when he was dismissed by the corporation’s board. Chief Financial Officer Jan Gurander took over on an interim basis, but Lundstedt was picked as the permanent replacement with an October starting date.
Reports at the time of Persson’s dismissal said some of Volvo’s major shareholders wanted new management that would streamline operations and increase profits. After 100 days in charge, Lundstedt unveiled his changes and Gurander is CFO and deputy CEO.
“We will also make sure that the brands will get the stronger voice in developing and adapting our customer offers when it comes to the product development, but still using the leverage of having a global product development organization," Lundstedt said during the call. "But I also want to be clear here, it means also a very strong responsibility, that each brand will stand on its own commercial and profitability merits going forward, in both the short and the long term.”
