Throughout the 2014 V8 Supercars championship, Volvo managed to walk away with an impressive four race victories despite fielding just two cars. Despite such success, the Swedish manufacturer is reportedly considering abandoning all of its racing programmes as it reportedly doesn’t fit in line with the brand’s philosophy.
During the unveiling of the firm’s latest global sales strategy, marketing director of Volvo Cars Alain Visser said, “Motorsport does not conform with our brand, where we stand for smaller engines and safety.”
If Volvo is indeed considering pulling the plug on its motorsport programme, it will also mean it’ll ditch the Swedish Touring Car Championship after 2015 which it has won the past two seasons. Volvo Car Australia is currently signed to V8 Supercars through to the end of the 2016 season with Garry Rogers Motorsport but from 2017, could leave the popular Australian series.
When asked back in August about the firm’s long-term commitment to motorsport, Volvo Cars Group chief executive Hakan Samuelsson said to Motoring, “In general, not really, but we have a commitment in Australia which is running for some more years. In the end, we do it if we think we can make money from selling more cars.
“Long-term it’s not really the cars we will be producing so it’s on the negative list, but let’s now continue the contract we have,” Samuelsson said.
[Via Motoring]
