The new XC90 made its public debut at the Paris Show, replacing the model that has been on sale since 2002. It introduced many new safety features and is built on the company’s new scalable product architecture which will be the building block for new models due in the foreseeable future.

This has helped to lighten the car by around 150kg compared with its predecessor. With new petrol and diesel engines too, it adds more fleet appeal to the package.

Just as the original XC90 opened up new markets for Volvo, the new model is sure to awaken interest from new customers. IFW caught up with Senior Vice President Marketing, Sales and Customer Service, Alain Visser at the Paris Show. What impact does he expect the new car to have? ‘For us, it’s got dual implications,’ he reckons, ‘I think the first one is the brand. It’s a clear statement that we are moving up in the premium area. That’s also why we have this unique display here in Paris with one car on the stand, it’s a bit like jewellery, a brand statement for us.

‘Then the second element from a business point of view is volume. It’s a big global segment, bigger in some markets than others, but overall it’s an important segment. We currently sell 450,000 to 470,000 cars a year and we plan to sell around 80,000 XC90s in an average year. This already shows how important this vehicle is to us.’

Turning specifically to fleet business, how does Volvo expect the XC90 to impact sales? ‘Our fleet business is very different, according to market,’ says Visser, ‘The UK is one of the biggest fleet markets in the world from a percentage point of view and we have traditionally had a very strong fleet position there. On the other hand we don’t traditionally have a very strong fleet position globally, so we have a lot of potential to grow in the fleet business. We believe that this car will give us some opportunities. You could say that this car touches a very specific sub-segment of fleet business – that’s obviously the user-chooser and that for us is absolutely key.’

Looking at its European business, Visser says that he now sees a softening of the downward trend that has been seen in Europe since 2008. ‘We see more stabilisation in the European car industry, even seeing a slight increase in some of the markets,’ he observes. ‘Without wanting to be over-optimistic, we see some light at the end of the tunnel. The question is, is that going to remain? We are obviously very concerned about the Russian situation and how far that could affect the overall European situation. I think it’s fair to say that after six years of down trends, we see a slight recovery.

‘When we look at our performance in Western Europe, we see a volume growth that goes beyond the slight industry recovery. Our market share is improving, we’re doing better in the key markets, which for us is the UK and Germany. We’re also seeing recovery starting in other markets including France and improvement in Southern Europe – Spain and Italy.

‘Whether you consider Russia is part of Europe or not, Russia is down, our performance in the Russian market is significantly up, but the volume is down because the market is so down. ‘What will happen in Russia?’, is for us the biggest question mark globally.’

Volvo’s core fleet business is based around the V40, S and V60 and XC60. ‘We see that across the globe,’ says Visser, ‘In some markets, like the US, it tends to be the V60 and XC60 and we are improving our penetration levels in fleet and we have a new Vice President Fleet, Andrew Sellars, who is re-shaping our fleet strategy, which is something that I think is going to help us a lot.’

Volvo is now a Chinese-owned company, under parent Geely, with potential to open up the Chinese market to the company. According to Visser this is very much part of the plan to step up Volvo’s global sales: ‘I would say China is key for us and the biggest part of our growth plan. If you compare our volume today with our planned volume of 800,000 cars, the step up in China is moving from 60,000 last year to 80,000 this year to 200,000 cars. China is already crucial and this year, will be our biggest market.’