Volvo jobs on the line as Euro team relocates
Volvo is poised to disband its central European marketing operations based in Brussels, and has given global head of marketing Dieter Laxy overall responsibility for sales and marketing.
The move, which could mean up to 50 jobs lost at the Brussels office, is the first major shake-up of Volvo’s global marketing operations since it became part of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group last year.
It will mean that all decisions regarding marketing and sales will be approved through Volvo’s headquarters in Gothenburg by Laxy, who joined Volvo last year from BMW.
The decision to streamline the organisation has been made by Ford, Volvo’s parent company, which has set a target of cutting the annual cost of global sales and marketing for the marque by $1bn (&£680m).
Volvo insiders say that many of the positions held at the Brussels office are unlikely to exist beyond the end of February. It is not clear what role Volvo’s director of brand strategy Matthias Kunst will have. He heads marketing from the Brussels office, but is expected to take a role in Gothenburg.
Volvo appointed US agency Messner Vetere Berger McNamee Schmetterer/EURO RSCG as its global agency in July. The agency is to set up an office in Amsterdam. It is not thought to be affected by the changes.
