Scandinavian Brick

Let’s talk about Volvo. Hardly the catchiest topic in the automotive realm I grant you. But I bet you can tell me a time when Volvo was cool. And I bet that time was 1995 and involved this car: the 850 T5-R. The only period in Volvo’s history that the Swedes actually – and successfully – set out to be sporty. Well, vaguely sporty. And with decidedly mixed results.

It is true that sportiness has to come from somewhere. It cannot be a dictat sent down from on high and it cannot be a marketing strategy. Of course these are almost always the actual sources, witness the rise of S Line Audis and R-badged VW Tiguans. But if sportiness isn’t a baked-in part of your philosophy, it’s very hard to convince new customers to buy in.

This has long been Volvo’s problem. It converted all the people who put safety first, so where do you go to pull more people in? Most importantly, how do you get them out of a Mercedes or BMW?