Peter Lyon
March 31, 2025
At Volvo, Rowan is out and Samuelson is in, again. According to the carmaker, on April 1, Jim Rowan will leave his position as President and CEO of Volvo Cars, and former CEO Hakan Samuelsson will take over that position for a two-year term.
Samuelsson, who first took over as CEO in 2016, stepped down in 2022 to make way for Rowan, who was the former CEO of Dyson. Ironically, the board chose Rowan for the position explicitly because he had experience with “software, digital transformation, and innovative consumer products” rather than the automobile sector.
Eric Li, the board chair of Volvo Cars, said in 2022, “I am happy to welcome Jim Rowan as the new CEO. We wanted to bring in a global CEO with experience outside the automotive business because Volvo Cars is undergoing a major digital transition. Jim is the ideal candidate to propel Volvo Cars forward, making it the quickest transformer in its industry and a totally electric business with millions of direct customer interactions.”
Sharp Reversal On EV Decision
However, Volvo’s share price has fallen 66% during Rowan’s three years in charge. Despite setting sales records for two years in a row, the company’s short-term prognosis has deteriorated, and the record 2024 sales numbers concealed a steep drop in the second half of the year.
Rowan’s abrupt reversal of Volvo’s previously stated target of reaching 100% battery EV (BEV) sales by 2030 was one of his most contentious actions, casting doubt on the company’s capacity to predict market trends.
Rowan maintained his focus on the goal as recently as May 2024, stating, “Let’s be honest, the innovation, the investment, the research is all being done on EVs. It is not being done on internal combustion engines. When you add all that together, you see a really clear path toward a fully electric future by 2030. Less servicing costs for customers, less heat, vibration, and noise, and zero tailpipe emissions—put all that together, and I think you’ll see that being a very achievable future.”
But after just four months, Volvo was unable to ignore the sluggish BEV market and was forced to change course.
The company quietly acknowledged that hybrids with combustion engines would not be going away anytime soon when it declared an “adjusted goal” in September 2024.
“Going forward, Volvo Cars aims for 90 to 100% of its global sales volume by 2030 to consist of electrified cars, which translated is a mix of fully electric and plug-in hybrid models.
“The remaining 0-10% will allow for a limited number of mild hybrid models to be sold if needed. This replaces the company’s previous ambition for its lineup to be fully electric by 2030.”
CARLIST THOUGHTS
Rowan misread the market signs and over-promoted EVs. By the time he realized that ICE was not finished it was too late. Volvo’s decision to replace him with Samuelson, effectively bringing him back, like Ferrari brought Schumacher back, is inspired, and will no doubt lead to a change in the Swedish firm’s fortunes.
