Volvo has realised that safe is better than sexy.
After several years adrift, as it changed owners and flirted with sexier advertisements, the Swedish carmaker is in the midst of a US$11 billion turnaround plan that it hopes will nearly double worldwide sales to 800,000 by 2020.
It is building new plants in Sweden and China, introducing new vehicles and developing its own infotainment system, which it says will be less distracting.
The company is also hiring a new ad agency and working on a bolder message emphasising Volvo’s reputation for safety.
One idea that could make it into the company’s ads: Volvo’s internal goal of having no deaths or serious injuries in new Volvo cars by 2020.
Volvo doesn’t currently know how many people die each year in its cars, since most countries don’t keep that data. But it says independent studies in Sweden have shown that Volvo passengers are several more times likely to escape injury after a crash.