Ex-Volvo boss Håkan Samuelsson – the border crosser – economy

The picture is coherent, even now when changing jobs. The video switch is on, “Hej!” says Håkan Samuelsson and sits down in a comfortable armchair. When Samuelsson leans even further towards the camera, which happens more often in the coming hour, three large design lightbulbs hover directly above his head. Everything looks very Ikea-like, including the manager who wears a sweater over his shirt. And indeed one is connected to Sweden, to the other big company there that the Germans associate with the country: Volvo.

Samuelsson managed the carmaker for ten years and made it a serious competitor for the German premium manufacturers: “As a competitor, I have great respect for Håkan Samuelsson’s performance,” says Mercedes boss Ola Källenius. “And as a Swede, I am pleased that one of the most traditional brands from our common homeland has become one of the most progressive under his leadership.”

In Gothenburg, Europe and China are very closely intertwined

The 71-year-old has now handed over the reins to Jim Rowan and will become the head of the supervisory board at the e-car sister brand Polestar. A new chapter, but he will continue to be a crucial part of one of the most interesting groups in the industry worldwide. Hardly anywhere else in the economy are Europe and China as closely interlinked as they are in Gothenburg, which you can see in the offices alone: ​​Chinese characters can usually be found next to the company logos or on the door signs of Volvo or Polestar.

Although Samuelsson asserts: “Volvo was and is Swedish,” there were only a few people sent from China to Gothenburg, “if then mainly in the financial sector.” In fact, however, the ownership structure is different: Volvo is majority owned by the Geely Group of self-made billionaire Li Shufu. Just like the sports car brand Lotus, the London taxis, Polestar – and also ten percent in Mercedes. Li is considered to be an influential and mysterious entrepreneur: the man who used to work as a photographer and refrigerator salesman rarely explains himself publicly.

According to Samuelsson, Li Shufu is “very international by Chinese standards.” The man works “very strategically”, playing the role that an owner has to play. The management there is “very focused” on speed and works “very, very hierarchically”. Which may have caused friction. On the one hand, Samuelsson says he had a lot of discussions with Li, “about the question: Should we electrify all cars?” On the other hand, when a factory opened, the discussion seemed to come to an end: the owner made it clear who was in charge with his appearance, and Samuelsson was seen with a defiant expression. In this respect he remained true to himself. When he was MAN boss, they called him the “stubborn moose” in Munich. And he now says of himself: “I should have been a little more diplomatic in some places.”

For a Volvo, 180 km / h is completely sufficient – he really said that once

This is probably one of the reasons why Samuelsson did not succeed in moving to the supervisory board of the company that he shaped so much: The whole industry got excited when he said: 180 km/h is quite enough, Volvos shouldn’t drive any faster. And the headlines were also big when, years ago – it was still the combustion engine era – he declared that from 2030 only purely electric e-Volvos would be built. So far, however, there has only been a purely electric Volvo, the big change is yet to come, and Samuelsson is self-critical there too: “We should have gotten that started even faster.” Just like having your own battery factory, “because battery technology is not as interchangeable as we in the industry thought for a long time”.

At the same time, the manager believes that the car industry as a whole is changing: “We won’t see any more takeovers,” because the logic of the industry is changing with electrification: “We’re back in the 1920s!” Now is the time again when newcomers can be successful, says Samuelsson, and names Nio from China, Lucid and Rivian from the USA and Polestar. “These companies don’t have a backpack that holds them back: they don’t have combustion engine factories, and they don’t have cumbersome distribution through wholesalers.” In fact, Samuelsson’s new area of ​​activity, Polestar, with the German CEO Thomas Ingenlath, shows how valuable so-called lean structures are: Not only has the actor Leonardo di Caprio invested in this small start-up, it is also rated by analysts before the upcoming IPO as highly as they are much larger traditional brand Volvo, which Samuelsson was able to list on the stock exchange in the fall.

Open detailed view

The shares should bring money for the technological change and they should turn the Europe-China construct into a global corporation. Understandable – and yet contradictory. In fact, Samuelsson is also observing the opposite trend. Western politicians and managers are increasingly decrying the human rights situation in China. Samuelsson maintains a pragmatic attitude: “I don’t think that sanctions and trade bans make sense to punish or educate countries that are different from us,” he says. “That has no effect.” The West must accept working with countries and cultures, “even if we don’t always agree with everything”. The red line for Samuelsson: when a country is waging aggressive war, like Russia is now.

In fact, however, globalization as a whole “has come to an end for the time being,” says Samuelsson, and that is just the beginning: “We will see a division,” believes the experienced manager. The West – that is, the USA and the EU – as a free trade zone and then China, which wants to “overcome Western dominance”. “Big blocks, that’s unfortunately the megatrend,” not only politically, but also in industry, because both sides are increasingly working with restrictions: The West does not supply any software, the East has completely different standards, for example in data protection. Developments in which Gothenburg can hardly mediate.