On Tuesday the 23rd of February, Team Sweden Portugal was invited to a digital visit to Volvo Portugal to learn more about Volvo Car´s strategy and vision on the global market, and more specifically, in Portugal.
We learned about their ambition to become a climate-neutral company by 2040. We were also given insight on how they have tackled the challenges brought by Covid-19, and how they managed to rethink and adapt their strategy and mindset to actually see the best quarter ever in Q3 2020.
CLS management and Board of Directors, were together with Ambassador Helena Pilsas and Counsellor Maria Linderyd invited by Volvo Managing Director, Edson Ishikawa, Volvo Consumer Experience Director, Aira de Mello and other key leaders of Volvo Cars Portugal to this exciting digital visit.
As a start, responsible business is paramount to Volvo. The team at Volvo presented Volvo’s dedication to sustainability and its aspirations to be an ethical company.
For example, in 2019 we were recognized for the 3rd consecutive year by the EthisphereInstitute (Global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices), as the World’s Most Ethical Company®.
Already in 2019, Volvo launched an ambitious climate plan which outlined Volvo’s aim to be a climate neutral company by 2040. The climate plan is aligned with the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and promoted a drastic reduction of carbon emissions, such as the aim of a 40% reduction in carbon emission per vehicle in 2025.
Volvo is the first conventional car maker to commit to an all-out electrification and the phasing out of internal combustion engines.
And, besides from this news, Volvo will also put the speed limit up to 180kms/h in all new Volvo cars as well as they have on board cameras to monitor the drivers’ capability to drive safely
Aligned with most businesses and organisations, Volvo encountered challenges when the pandemic hit in 2020. As a response to the pandemic, and the future, Volvo’s ambition is to increase its presence online and digitally, and provide services that enables for remote sales, led to remarkable results as Q3 of 2020 turned out to be Volvo Portugal’s best performing quarter.
On the people side, Volvo aims as many other Swedish companies to be the employer of choice and they believe in highly motivated teams always working with continuous alignment and feedback. They are a truly diverse and inclusive company having 42% women in leading positions and aiming for a 50/50 gender equality in general staff.
When thinking about their people, they already have some key elementes implemented for their coworkers:
Looking forward - main focus for Volvo is growth globally, all in on electrification and online solutions.
An insight we got is that Volvo Cars was the first carmaker to implement global traceability of cobalt used in its batteries by applying blockchain technology.
They also believe that online and offline must work together in harmony for a seamless customer experience - Clients want transparent and easy mobility solutions. At the same time they want to see, touch and feel our product.
On a final note, Volvo already has sales relations with several of the corporate members of CLS and aspires to increase its collaboration with Swedish companies operating in Portugal and envisions that all Swedish companies would have Volvo cars in their fleet.
The team at Volvo concludes that they are proud to work for Volvo in Portugal – it is a strong brand that represents Sweden.
The digital visit had many participants from Volvo, the Embassy of Sweden, and from the CLS organisation. CLS looks forward to increasing our collaboration with Volvo and we highly value our relations with Volvo as one of our strategic partners – a brand that symbolizes Sweden and Swedish value and that points a way to the future.
