Not too long ago (no, really, it was less than a week ago), we posted a story discussing Volvo’s possible entry into the large luxury sedan market with a model called the S100. It was said to rival the likes of the Audi A8 and Mercedes-Bens S-Class, being built on an extended version of the platform set to underpin the next S80.
The information is now being contradicted by another report published on Car Advice, which states that, well, none of it is true. What they’re basically saying is that the reports that cropped up on a couple of Chinese sites were and we quote, “not correct.” This time, the source seems more credible because it’s Volvo’s VP of media relations, Per-Ake Froberg, and in fact, it goes into even more detail.
Froberg explains that the Swedish brand already occupies that market space, with the S80 and S80L, and thus, an even larger and more luxurious vehicle is not justified, in their vision. He added that there is no confusion between Geely and Volvo management – everybody knows the strategy clearly, and they’re all sticking to it.
Still, we have reason to believe that it may not be entirely so, or may not have been so at the time of the alleged statements made by Li Shufu (the boss of Geely) regarding the flagship model. Volvo made its position clear back in April of this year, and perhaps this is signaling there is a bit of incongruity between the minds at the top of the two companies.
By Andrei Nedelea
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