Dialogue with Zhao Qin: Volvo is promoting electrification to reach more consumers with the concept of sustainable development

Reporter Fang Chao and Quartz Jing report from Shanghai

"There is a very clear direction within Volvo that we are safe, healthy and sustainable. On the basis of consensus, we will consider what is the best way to reach consumers and target audiences. ”

During the 29th Volvo China Open, Zhao Qin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Volvo China Open and Vice President of Corporate Communications of Volvo Cars Asia Pacific, said this in an interview with media reporters including China Business News.

(The European Tour Group has awarded the Volvo China Open Green Drive Guidance Certification.) Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

As a luxury car brand known for its "safety" and "environmental protection", Volvo is accelerating the process of electrification, and since 2023, it has successively launched a number of electrified models such as EM90 and EX30. Zhao Qin said that the launch of pure electric models is a solid step towards electrification for Volvo. According to public information, Volvo's latest goal is to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.

"As the first brand in the automotive industry to make an environmental declaration, sustainability has always been a value for Volvo Cars." Volvo emphasized, "Adhering to the long-term development strategy, Volvo Cars will continue to deepen the construction of the system to build a safe, healthy and sustainable future travel life." ”

Accelerate the transition to electrification

As one of the highest-level international tournaments of men's professional golf in China, the recent Volvo China Open has become the focus of attention from the outside world.

From May 2 to 5, the 29th Volvo China Open was held in Shenzhen, and this tournament was also the first return of the DP World Tour in five years, with 156 participants from more than 30 countries and regions competing fiercely, and Adrian Otaegui from Spain won the Nordic Horizon Championship trophy.

What is rarely known to the outside world is that as the longest-running international professional golf tournament in Chinese mainland and the most influential national golf open in China, the Volvo China Open, which is quite famous in the golf circle, has a deep relationship with Volvo, a car company.

"It wasn't Volvo that sponsored or chose the Volvo China Open, it was Volvo who founded the Volvo China Open. People will think that they see different brands in many big events, such as title sponsors, so they simply understand Volvo as a sponsor. "But in fact, the Volvo China Open was founded by Volvo 30 years ago. ”

Zhao Qin further introduced: "At that time, Mel Pyat, the representative of the Volvo brand, came to China and communicated with Mr. Rong Gaotang, the chairman of the China Golf Association at the time, and then the two sides agreed to make an open golf tournament belonging to China. ”

"In 1994, golf was hardly a household name in China. Why did Volvo get into golf? In fact, Volvo has been involved in golf at the end of the 70s of the last century, because we are very consistent with the brand tone of golf, it is advocating healthy and elegant sports, and Volvo's car also maintains the design and style of the Nordic elegant gentleman, which is in line. Zhao Qin emphasized.

Not only that, Zhao Qin also introduced that Volvo users and golf enthusiasts have many things in common, "the first is their pursuit of a safe and healthy life, and the other is low-key, the pursuit of quality", and believes that the above two user groups also have a sense of resilience and social responsibility.

Information from Volvo also shows that during the 29th Volvo China Open, the EM90 will be used as an exclusive car for the event to help green travel. At the same time, in order to encourage players to play "hole-in-one", Volvo also set up the Volvo EM90, a million-level award, which was awarded to the first player to "score a hole-in-one" during the competition.

"The EM90 is our Nordic all-electric luxury MPV, which also meets the needs of Chinese consumers, including business needs and even family needs." Zhao Qin also said, "We feel that the Chinese golf crowd is still more in line with the EM90 audience, and the Volvo China Open has been held for 30 years, and it is currently the highest level and highest prize money professional tournament in China, so its influence can better help EM90 from this perspective." ”

Zhao Qin said: "The launch of the all-electric model itself is a solid step towards electrification for Volvo, and we will see more pure electric models launched in the future, including the EX30, which has already been unveiled on the upcoming market." According to public information, the Volvo EX30 has made its debut at the 2024 Beijing Auto Show and announced the start of pre-orders.

The relevant person in charge of Volvo recently revealed at the 2024 Beijing Auto Show: "From 2024 to 2025, Volvo Cars will continue to launch various levels of cars, in addition to the layout of E-MPV level (EM90) and B-SUV (EX30), it will also launch D-SUV, D-car, E-SUV, E-car products." ”

Achieve net-zero emissions by 2040

Behind the launch of more pure electric models in the future, Volvo is accelerating towards the era of "net zero greenhouse gas emissions".

Information from Volvo shows that Volvo has made significant progress in advancing its climate action targets since the launch of its sustainability strategy in 2019. For example, the use of climate-neutral energy in its operations now reaches 69%, up from 55% in 2019.

At the same time, 100% of the world's manufacturing sites already use climate-neutral electricity, up from 80% in 2019. In addition, Volvo's CO2 emissions per vehicle have been reduced by 19% since 2018. Volvo said.

"This is a further refinement of the company's previous plan to achieve climate neutrality and to make it clear that the company will only use carbon removal technology to address those unavoidable emissions," Volvo said. ”

"Volvo is not doing this by launching a few electric models, we are doing a lot of solid work, including the operation of the company itself, for example, our Taizhou plant was the first in China to become the first climate-neutral operation plant in China at the beginning of this year." Zhao Qin introduced.

Zhao Qin also said: "In addition, we ask suppliers and supply chains to cooperate with us, not only us, but also suppliers in different regions to promote 100%. Including raw materials such as aluminum, steel, batteries, etc., we also look at its recycling. ”

According to information from Volvo, on the basis of the previously announced target of reducing bicycle carbon emissions by 40% from 2018 to 2025, Volvo has further accelerated its actions, "including announcing at the first Chain Expo in 2023 that it will promote the 2024 first-tier supplier '100 green electricity' project in China, and announcing during the subsequent COP28 that it plans to reduce bicycle carbon emissions by 75% by 2030 compared with the 2018 baseline." ”

"We also started the construction of a new battery center during Volvo Cars' CE0 visit to China this year, which is also to better prepare for the promotion of electrification. We have done a lot of this work in China, and we hope that through the promotion of electrification, the concept of protecting the earth and sustainable development will be deeply rooted in the hearts of every consumer. Zhao Qin shared.

According to public information, on February 21 this year, the groundbreaking ceremony for the fourth phase of Volvo Cars' Asia-Pacific headquarters was held in Jiading, Shanghai. Among them, the battery center is the core project of the fourth phase of Volvo Cars' Asia-Pacific headquarters park, covering the whole value chain battery business from battery after-sales maintenance to raw material recycling, and continuously improving Volvo Cars' battery life cycle service capabilities.

As a global luxury car brand that continues to cultivate the Chinese market, in addition to continuing to promote the process of electrification and sustainable development, Volvo's development in the Chinese market has also attracted market attention.

"Over the years, Volvo Cars has not had any big ups and downs in China, and we have been constantly improving. In 2010, Volvo had fewer than 100 employees in China and was basically a Swedish company centered on Sweden. But today, we have nearly 10,000 employees in China, 3 factories, a complete R&D center, a design center, and a very strong purchasing team, a sales company team, and a PR team. Zhao Qin said.

"These all represent Volvo's system strength over the years, and its performance can achieve steady improvement no matter what." Zhao Qin emphasized, "In the past 10 years, Volvo has taken one step at a time, although there are many voices from the outside world, Volvo has always adhered to safety, insisted on sustainable development, and insisted that we should better understand Chinese consumers, so as to continue to provide better cars for Chinese consumers." ”

(Editor: Quartz Jing Review: Tong Haihua Proofreader: Yan Yuxia)