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You guys keep sending me this thread... I'm going to assume it is an invitation to join the discussion. Let me just say I don't represent or speak for Volvo Cars in any way shape or form. I'm president of the Volvo Club of America. I'm going to speak for the club, then I'm going to give you my own thoughts.
Speaking for the Club
The Club officers are as disappointed as you are about this. I have several of these high mileage badges and was looking forward to getting more. A decal isn't goin to be nearly as cool. I'm meeting with a couple of Volvo VP's in Irvine in May. I'll bring this up. We have some influence at Volvo, but with 5000 members (Compared to BMW Club's 50,000+) we don't swing a very big stick.
My Own Thoughts
Budget Cuts
Clearly this is a budget cut issue. Volvo isn't making much money, you know the Ford story. Volvo employees haven't had an annual bonus for years. There will be budget cuts. Every budget cut pisses somebody off.
Slaps in the face:
Slap in the face seems to be the theme here. Let's talk about that. Do you think Volvo executives read this forum? and Swedespeed, and Volvospeed? They would be pretty stupid if they didn't and they aren't stupid. Free market intelligence... priceless.
When they read the RWD forum of brickboard, what do they see?
Examples:
I hate FWD, I hate the new Volvos, I hate Ford, Ford runs Volvo, Volvo sucks, I'll never own another Volvo, etc. etc. etc. on forever. Do yo think it is possible that the people at Volvo (human beings) might interepret some of the comments here as a slap in the face? Maybe a couple of hundred slaps a day? You guys give as good as you get, maybe better.
Business Decisions:
Lets suppose you are an executive. You have to cut the budget. You are spending marketing money to reach a group who has publicly stated they will never buy anything from you ever again. How much are you willing to keep pumping in?
The folks in this forum, and others, have done everything possible to make themselves a prime target for budget cuts. Now it happened. I'll do what I can to reverse it, but I'll be swimming against the tide of anti-New Volvo sentiment they read here every day. I have an hour long meeting with Volvo in Irvine. Probably 5 minutes on this issue. The best I can probably do is make the case that not ALL old Volvo owners hate the new cars... just a very vocal minority. Wish me luck.
If you are looking to affix blame for this one, start close to home. I understand Volvo's decision on this, but I don't like it. I have a much harder time understanding the negativity on the online forums.
Lee Cordner
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