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Volvo aiming for a stock IPO by the end of 2021

Volvo Cars is "making good progress" toward a potential initial public offering by the end of this year, the chief executive of the Swedish premium auto brand told Reuters on Wednesday. "We are looking at the possibility of doing an IPO before the end of the year," listing shares on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange, company CEO Hakan Samuelsson said in an interview. Samuelsson and other Volvo executives on Wednesday laid out an extensive road map to becoming a fully electric car maker by 2030, including plans to sell 600,000 battery electric vehicles at mid-decade and build a European battery gigafactory in 2026. Volvo earlier this year scrapped a proposed merger with the company's Chinese parent, Hong Kong-listed Geely Automobile. In March, Geely said Volvo would explore capital market options, including an initial public offering and stock market listing. Many startups have gone public in the United States and China over the past two years, following electric vehicle market leader Tesla Inc in taking advantage of investor enthusiasm to raise cheap capital to compete with established brands such as Volvo. Samuelsson said Volvo and Geely will continue to share vehicle architectures, internal combustion powertrains and other components. But the companies will do so at "an arm's length distance," consistent with the way independent companies do business, he said. During Wednesday's briefing, Volvo also said it plans to equip many of its future vehicles with self-driving technology, including standard lidar sensors from Luminar Technologies Inc and computers from Nvidia Corp. "Our goal is to build the safest cars possible, using all available technology," Samuelsson said. As it launches new electric vehicles, Volvo also plans a slew of related products, including insurance and vehicle subscription payment plans offered directly by the automaker, Samuelsson said. "The whole vehicle business will be recurring revenue," Samuelsson said. In Europe, the company plans to change its retail operations so that customers order new electric vehicles directly from the manufacturer, with dealers paid commissions to deliver them, Samuelsson said. In the United States, where laws protect existing dealers, Volvo will still sell vehicles through franchised retailers. For its future electric vehicles, Volvo is working with Swedish partner Northvolt on a new generation of batteries with higher energy and designed to be packaged as a structural element of the vehicle.

This is Volvo's awesome S60 V8 Supercar entry [w/video]

Australian auto news has been dire for the last several months with all three automakers that build there announcing they would stop production within the next three years. But Volvo is providing a shot of excitement with the unveiling of its new S60 racecar for the upcoming season of the Australian V8 Supercar series.
The Volvo S60 racecar will use a 5.0-liter, naturally aspirated V8 based on Volvo's B8444S production engine that will be tuned to produce roughly 650 horsepower on E85 ethanol. Power will get to the ground via a six-speed sequential transmission, and it will be able to reach 62 miles per hour in 3.2 seconds and a top speed of 185. All cars in the series use common parts for the chassis, transaxle, and rear suspension.
Volvo's Polestar performance arm will campaign two of the S60 racers this season. While Volvo might seem like an odd inclusion into Australian racing, it actually has quite a successful history. It won the 1986 Australian Touring Car Championship in a 240 and won the Bathhurst 1000 race in 1998 in an S40. Polestar is not new to racing either, having been racing Volvos around the world since 1996.

Trade war tactics: How Volvo will land a cheap Chinese EV on U.S. shores

A made-in-China electric vehicle will hit U.S. dealers this summer offering power and efficiency similar to the Tesla Model Y, the world's best-selling EV, but for about $8,000 less. The EX30 from Volvo Cars, the Swedish luxury brand owned by China's Geely, foreshadows the fierce competitive threat U.S. automakers could face from Chinese EV manufacturers that have surged far ahead of global rivals, especially on affordability. The $35,000 window sticker of Volvo's compact SUV hits a sweet spot in the U.S. market, where most buyers cannot afford most EVs. The competitive price reflects an unusual combination of Geely's China-specific cost advantages and Volvo's ability to skirt U.S. tariffs on Chinese cars because it also has U.S. manufacturing operations, according to interviews with four sources familiar with Volvo and Geely strategy and several U.S. trade policy experts. Chinese EV makers can undercut global competitors largely because of the nation's domination of battery minerals mining and refining, as well as its long-standing commitment to EV development, including heavy government subsidies. In addition, Geely has slashed manufacturing costs by merging supply chains and sharing platforms and parts with Volvo and other Geely brands, according to two senior Geely managers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly. Despite its aggressive price, Volvo is targeting hefty profit margins on the EX30 of between 15% and 20% globally, said a third Geely source. China's EV dominance will be on display this week at the nation's premier auto show in Beijing. In the China market, the world's largest, dozens of domestic EV brands are fighting it out in a price war while foreign automakers have steadily lost market share. The intense competition has driven China's biggest EV makers, led by BYD, to accelerate exporting of EVs that can capture higher prices and profits in less competitive overseas markets. The EX30 will be among only a handful of China-made cars sold in the United States, none of them from Chinese brands. Vehicles from China currently face a 27.5% tariff and increasingly strident calls for higher trade barriers from U.S. automakers and their political allies. But Volvo is eligible for tariff refunds under a law that awards them to firms with U.S. manufacturing operations — such as VolvoÂ’s South Carolina plant — that also export similar products, according to U.S.