Volvo Group restructuring truck business worldwide

May 1, 2012
The Volvo Group is reorganizing to better utilize the global potential of brands and products within truck operations. Sales and marketing of all of the

The Volvo Group is reorganizing to better utilize the global potential of brands and products within truck operations. Sales and marketing of all of the truck companies will be organized in three regional organizational units, directly under the chief executive officer. All product development and production of trucks and engines will be placed in two new central organizational units under the CEO.

The new organization will be in place January 1, 2012.

Having previously been divided into four different brand companies, Volvo Trucks, Renault Trucks, Mack Trucks, and UD Trucks, marketing, sales, and brand responsibility for the truck companies will now be conducted in three new geographic, organizational units reporting directly to the CEO, Olof Persson:

  • Group Trucks Sales and Marketing Americas (comprising all of North andSouth America) with global responsibility for the Mack brand, under the leadership of Dennis Slagle, currently president of North American Trucks.

  • Group Trucks Sales and Marketing EMEA (comprising Europe, the Middle East, andAfrica) with global responsibility for the Volvo and Renault brands, under the leadership of Peter Karlsten, currently president of Volvo Powertrain and chief technology officer for the group.

  • Group Trucks Sales and Marketing APAC (comprisingAsia and Pacific) with global responsibility for the UD Trucks brand, UD, under the leadership of Joachim Rosenberg, currently president of Asia Truck Operations, ATO.

Responsibility for the group's various joint-venture companies in the trucks area will be organized in a new organizational unit, Truck Joint Ventures, under the leadership of Pär Östberg, currently responsible for Trucks Asia. Truck Joint Ventures will also report directly to Persson.

Product, purchasing, and production for trucks and engines, which is currently the responsibility of Volvo 3P and Volvo Powertrain, will be organized in two new organizational units reporting directly to Persson:

  • Product planning, product development, and purchasing for trucks and engines will be organized in a new global development and purchasing organizational unit, Group Trucks Technology, under the leadership of Torbjörn Holmstöm, currently president of Volvo 3P.

  • All production of trucks and engines and all logistic services will be placed in a new global production organization, Group Trucks Operations, under the leadership of Mikael Bratt, currently group chief financial officer. Production, product planning, and product development for the non-truck business areas will remain with their respective business area.

Some changes will also be made in other business areas:

  • Håkan Karlsson, currently president of Volvo Bus Corporation, will become chairman of Volvo Aero, Volvo Buses, and Volvo Penta and of a new business area, Governmental Sales. The head of Governmental Sales will be Stefano Chmielewski, currently president of Renault Trucks. The heads of all of these business areas will report to Karlsson, who will continue to report to Persson.

  • Karlsson will also be chairman of the board of Volvo Construction Equipment, whose president, Pat Olney, will continue to report to Persson.

  • Anders Osberg, currently head of Volvo Treasury, succeeds Mikael Bratt as new CFO and will report directly to Persson. Osberg will also be responsible for Volvo Financial Services and Volvo IT.

In conjunction with the introduction of the new organization, these changes will be made to Volvo's Group Executive Committee:

  • Staffan Jufors, president of Volvo Trucks, will retire at the end of 2011. Satoru Takeuchi continues as president of the legal company UD Trucks.

  • Stefan Johnsson, currently responsible for HR and a number of business units, will leave the group December 31, 2012. Kerstin Renard, currently HR manager reporting to Johnsson, will assume a new position as responsible for HR reporting directly to Persson.

  • Senior Vice-President-Communication & Brand Management Per Löjdquist will leave his position June 30, 2012, but will remain as advisor until Dec 31, 2012, when he will retire. He will be succeeded by Mårten Wikforss, currently responsible for Media Relations and Corporate News at AB Volvo.

Two new positions will also be introduced January 1, 2012, reporting directly to Persson: a head of strategy and a chief information officer. Karin Falk, currently head of the NAP (Non-Automotive Purchasing) business unit, is appointed head of strategy. Magnus Carlander, currently head of Volvo IT, has been appointed new CIO.

Other members of the Group Executive Committee — Eva Persson, general counsel; and Jan-Eric Sundgren, head of Public Affairs — remain in the Group Executive Committee and retain their current responsibilities.