Despite the financial health displayed in recent years, the other day Volvo announced the cutting of 1,300 jobs in Sweden. The builder announced that it is a restructuring caused by the pandemic and the current economic context.
Volvo Cars will lay off 1,300 white-collar employees in Sweden, with the automaker saying it needs to step up its shift to new products and business models amid the coronavirus pandemic. The layoffs have become more urgent as car sales slump because of measures to restrict the spread of the virus, Volvo said in a statement last week.
“We cannot expect customers to come back and demand exactly the same products as before the crisis,” CEO Hakan Samuelsson said in a phone interview. “The coronavirus means that it’s even more important to change rapidly, and doing it by voluntary redundancies will not be fast enough.” The layoffs announced on Wednesday will reduce staffing in “non-focus areas,” such as activities related to combustion engine production and testing, Samuelsson said. Manufacturing operations will not be affected by the cuts, the company said.
The coronavirus pandemic has forced automakers around the globe to halt production and react to a rapid slump in demand. Volvo reopened its factories in Sweden on Monday, 20 April, after an almost month long shutdown.
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group bought Volvo Cars from Ford Motor in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Since then, the automaker has revamped its lineup and invested in new business models, including subscription services and car-sharing. Volvo has also launched its first all-electric model and aims to raise its total of all-electric cars to 50 percent of overall sales by 2025.
The outbreak of COVID19 has already impacted the auto industry significantly, according to JATO. Global vehicle sales totalled 5.5m units in Mar-20, down 39%. It is the largest YoY monthly decrease in decades – even surpassing the global financial crisis in Nov 2008, down 25%.
These were the cars that posted the strongest market share loses in March and Q1. Mazda for example didn’t sell a single unit of the Mazda CX3 (CX-30 effect?). The Dacia Duster lost a lot of traction after months of strong growth. Source: JATO
The current automotive downward trend is not simply due to the restrictions of free movement. The industry is being impacted largely by the uncertainty for the future, and this issue started to arise even before the pandemic took hold…
European regs of SUVs fell 48% in March to 338k units while increasing mkt share to 40%. Volume only fell 5% for Volvo XC40, which became the top-selling premium SUV. In the Q1 results it is noticeable the presence of Hyundai Kona in the top 10. Source: JATO
Can a $400.000 Rolls-Royce handle the offroad for 2000 KM?
Two brave women have entered a rally driving the most luxurious SUV. More precisely, Rebelle Rally, an annual competition held in the States, which stretches for 2,000 kilometers and is dedicated exclusively to women’s crews.
The Rebelle Rally starts in Lake Tahoe, California, and ends in the dunes of Glamis, near the Mexican border. Everything is measured in kilometers. Points are awarded for navigational accuracy, not speed. Competitors cannot use phones, GPS data or any electronic wizardry. If your vehicle has a navigation system, it is disabled or closed off.
Among their journey, the car revealed many thing, like some kind of “Limp Mode”, meaning that if a door is not properly closed, the car won’t have the same power.
A number of 483 vehicles have to go back to the American Special Vehicles (ASV) – the company responsible for converting US pick-up for right-hand drive, due to a defective part that may increase risk of fire.
The recall notice, lodged with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), says the defect relates to the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) cooler – a component of the vehicle’s emissions control system – fitted to diesel engine equipped models that may crack, resulting in a coolant leak into the intake manifold.
ASV says if coolant does leak into the intake manifold, this may increase the risk of a vehicle fire resulting in an accident, injury to vehicle occupants and other road users, and proper damage. Affected vehicles were sold between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2019.
Hepa is a small village in Brodina, Suceava, Romania. Village is a strong word, because there are around 10 house scaterred across the hills in that area. Find It on GMaps!
You can easily get there with a 4×4 car if the terrain is not very muddy. I went there with my Duster and with was a very nice ride all the way up. First you need to cross a narrow bridge made of wood, in order to get on the trail into the forest.
From here there is a good trail that seems freshly made in some sections thru the forest, that will lead you up to the first hill. Here are some photos made in March, when there was snow.
The road goes up untill it reaches a point where you can go left, to Zalomestra, or right, to the end of Hepa.
The road in the back is the one to Zalomestra
From here there is a section harder to climb, with many sharp rocks. Nothing the Duster couldn’t handle.
Once you get up there, the views is just amazing. And is so quiet, that you have the feeling like something is not right. I recommend doing the trip by foot, to capture even more the spectaluar views of the valley that’s standing at your feet.
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