In 1929, nearly 100 years ago, the famous American philosopher and psychologist Dewey mentioned in “The Quest for Certainty” that “living in a dangerous world, one must seek security.” Uncertainty is an inherent state of the real world, which means that we humans, throughout our lives, must confront this uncertainty from the outside world in order to seek reality and become more stable and powerful.
When black swan events occur and gray rhino incidents occur frequently, it is destined to be an uncertain era.
The worsening global economic instability, the saturation of the automobile market, and the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic… These uncertainties have brought severe challenges to the development of the global automotive industry. In such an uncertain era, “where does the sense of security come from?”
“Sense of security comes from certainty,” and Volvo’s answer to this proposition is that this sense of security comes from certainty in the market and its achievements, and behind this certainty lies Volvo’s dedication and persistence in the market, users, and technology.
Sense of security comes from certainty in the market and its achievements
In Volvo’s view, the economic environment is uncertain, but the market remains confident. Favorable policies encouraging automobile consumption were introduced by the government at the speed of the national recovery after resumption of work. China is the largest market for luxury cars and still has room for growth.
Shortages in chip supply were typical in the first half of the year. At the same time, the rapid rise of the new energy market has had some impact on the traditional luxury car market.
In the face of the epidemic and chip shortages, Volvo’s market share remains stable. In June, as the epidemic recovered and policies improved, Volvo quickly launched relevant policies on purchase tax. And the business rebounded strongly (73.9% MoM, far higher than the overall passenger car market of 42%), and sales (16,448 units) surpassed Lexus, ranking fifth among luxury brands.
Such achievements are due to Volvo’s quick response to market changes and epidemic responses. In terms of products, Volvo launched a new pure electric C40 and a new upgraded XC40 pure electric version in the first half of this year, forming a new BEV product lineup to promote Volvo’s electrification development. In the gasoline and hybrid fields, Volvo has launched the new XC60 and new S90 RECHARGE T8 plug-in hybrid models to further consolidate the strength of its main models.
In the first half of the year, Volvo faced heavy new launches and a large number of marketing activities from competitor products, but the market share of its main models remained steady: XC90 (+0.4%), XC60 (+0%), S60 (+0.8%), all achieving year-on-year positive growth, and consolidating its market position.Behind the feedback on market performance lies the safety genes deeply rooted in Volvo’s product strength.
In Volvo’s view, the persistence and dedication to safety is the greatest respect for love and life. Volvo’s safety has been written into the brand’s genes, and etched into the thinking of every Volvo person.
Yuan Xiaolin said: “Sense of safety is a sense of conviction from a psychological perspective, just like many Volvo owners say that this car can make me and my family feel at ease.”
Therefore, Volvo’s safety technology has always been at least 12-18 months ahead of its nearest competitors. When others conduct impact tests at a speed of 65 kilometers per hour, Volvo does it at 80 kilometers per hour. When others test air quality in the cabin at 25 degrees Celsius, Volvo does it at 65 degrees Celsius. While others choose safety configurations according to different grades, Volvo’s entire range comes standard with active safety systems. Safety for others can be a kind of external mandatory requirement, but for Volvo, safety is an inner belief and pursuit.
In addition, the rapid development of intelligent technology is driving continuous technological upgrades in the automotive industry, but in this process, accidents related to intelligent driving occur frequently. In the fast-paced era of intelligent iteration, Volvo always takes safety as the basis to create products. Its CitySafety urban safety system and the unmanned, highly automated driving function Ride Pilot are all based on safety.
“Sense of security comes from users’ goodwill and trust.”
Psychologist Abraham Maslow pointed out that psychological security is “a feeling of confidence, security, and freedom that emerges from fear and anxiety, especially the feeling of satisfying various current and future needs of a person.”
Volvo’s sense of security comes from its deeply ingrained brand power, which achieves efficient communication through accurate positioning and high-quality content in brand marketing, engraving the spirit of humanism and care into the hearts of the audience, forming a bond between the brand and users.
Faced with the repeated outbreaks of the epidemic in the first half of the year, the changes in work and life have made many corporate employees feel anxious. Volvo Cars has adopted measures such as material distribution, online office, and on-site office, effectively ensuring the normal life and work of employees. In this non-war time “war against the epidemic”, Volvo Cars’ actions have demonstrated the responsibility and commitment of a large enterprise. After all, nothing can be more reassuring than stable supplies and smooth work.Since resuming work and production in June, many consumers have expressed that “the warranty and extended warranty have expired during the epidemic period, repairing the car is embarrassing.” In response to these demands, Volvo Cars quickly launched “Three Major Protection Policies and Two Caring Benefits” to give users a sense of security.
After the country issued policies such as purchase tax subsidies, Volvo Cars also quickly responded by announcing that all models would enjoy subsidies, including XC90 which was not covered by the policy. Volvo Cars also dug into their own pockets and launched welfare such as “the only tax reduction at the same level and lifelong free maintenance”.
“Customer-oriented” services that seem to be “very expensive” have been provided. For example, in the past two years, Volvo Cars has adjusted the prices of more than 123,000 parts, covering 1,000 parts categories, and more than 11,000 parts have an average price reduction of more than 50%. For customers to save time and money, Volvo is serious.
In the electrification era, Volvo Cars is also committed to solving users’ “charging anxiety” and achieving comprehensive layouts in four major scenarios: home charging, public facilities charging, dealer charging, and emergency charging. Volvo actively identifies the inconvenience when young people use various charging services and uses one APP to connect charging columns to major charging networks without repetitive registration, traditional lengthy payment procedures, or automatic charging. Volvo also provides “family and friends authentication” for customers. When the vehicle is lent to family and friends, they can also enjoy the owner’s free charging rights.
Volvo believes that good after-sales service should be: customers do not need to be professional or worry. When the brand needs to appear, they can hand over the car to Volvo, and everything will be taken care of. When after-sales service is digitized, Volvo can systematize the complex and professional after-sales service into invisible and present it to consumers. Behind this, Volvo has always been customer-oriented as a brand that is close to a hundred years old and always upholds and innovates.
“Safety comes from foresight and perseverance.”
In the big trend of electrification, Volvo, as the traditional luxury car company with the most resolute transformation attitude, is steadily pushing forward. This foresight and determinacy become Volvo’s “sense of security” in the face of market changes.
Facing the challenges of intelligence and electrification era, Volvo insists on providing consumers with worry-free travel solutions in a personalized, sustainable and safe manner. This is Volvo’s answer to the future of automobiles.
On the one hand, Volvo has a strong self-research ability to provide a foundation for continuous optimization of autonomous driving functions and experiences.# Volvo’s Advancements in the Automotive Industry
Volvo is one of the few automotive manufacturers with complete autonomous development capabilities in ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems). They have developed their own solutions for everything from perception fusion, decision-making to control, in addition to being able to provide full-stack autonomous driving software through their subsidiary, Zenseact.
In addition to these impressive capabilities, Volvo is actively pushing for collaboration with top technology companies to create an industry-leading open ecosystem for in-car entertainment.
Volvo’s Open Innovation Hackathon is an industry challenge event that is open to the public, inviting software development teams to participate in timed application development exercises. While common in the tech industry, Volvo is the first automotive manufacturer to promote this type of activity.
Volvo’s open car entertainment system is leading the industry. Through their partnership with Google, Volvo is the first company in the automotive industry to have an integrated Android system with improved stability and fluency. Their open-minded approach enables compatibility with a range of partners such as Gaode, Huawei, iFlyTech, Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu, and their applications and services – including HUAWEI AppGallery, Tmall Genie, Tencent iQIYI, and AMap – are all available across 60+ connected scenarios, integrating mobile and in-car experiences.
Volvo’s philosophy revolves around the belief that “people are the starting point and ultimate goal for all technology.” It is for this reason that they work patiently with partners to create the safest and most intelligent ecosystem.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.