subject: Can a Volvo not be a Volvo? [print this page] I see two possible problems with that..I see two possible problems with that... There are already lots of well-established sexy cars out there, so why do we need another one? And, then, does that mean Volvo is not as safe anymore? It's almost like Wal-Mart suddenly saying, "Well, besides being low priced, we're also high fashion like Nordstrom or Lord and Taylor." Is Wal-Mart "believable" as high-fashion? Is Volvo "believable" as sexy?
I suspect why they're doing it, though. You said it yourself: Besides Volvo's safety image, they also had an image as "mom and dad's suburban station wagon." Well, young people today don't want "mom and dad's suburban station wagon." As all kids want to do, they want to differentiate themselves from their parents, have their own identity, make their own statement. So Volvo was losing market share to what were apparently "sexier" brands of cars, except maybe the youg people weren't necessarily choosing those other cars because they were sexier, maybe they were choosing them because they were different from what their parents drove.
It reminds me of the Pepsi / New Coke debacle a few years ago. The Coke folks thought people were buying Pepsi because of the taste, so they thought they would bring out New Coke, that tasted like Pepsi --- "See, we've got it too." Except maybe people chose Pepsi as much because it was not Coke as they did for the perceived taste difference.
Pontiac tried for something like 20 years to change its image, in fact, in very much the same direction that Volvo is going --- from stodgy to sexy. Where's Pontiac today?
