Share Volvo Cars has removed its chief operating officer post in a realignment of management roles at the company, President & CEO Stefan Jacoby announced on Tuesday.
The previous COO, Steven Armstrong, will return to former owner Ford of Europe, based in Cologne, Germany.
After eliminating the position of an operative head for the company’s industrial operations, the senior vice presidents for product development, manufacturing, purchasing and quality will now report directly to Jacoby. In addition, the head of special vehicles will also report directly to him.
“It’s essential to extend the executive management team in order to speed up the decision making process and to make well-founded business decisions. This will ensure that everyone is focused on the key issues and it will increase necessary transparency,” said Jacoby in a statement.
Separately, Volvo has appointed Freeman Shen, an executive at Zhejiang Geely, Volvo’s parent company, as senior vice president for Volvo Cars’ China operations. He will be responsible for both the industrial and the commercial part of the business.
Intensive work is currently under way ahead of an announcement in the near future about the future direction for Volvo China and upcoming investments in the Chinese market, the company said in a statement.
Shen has served as a close advisor to Volvo Chairman Li Shufu. Shen, who has previously studied and worked in the US, was the CEO of Fiat Powertrain Technologies China from 2007 to 2009 before joining Geely in December as vice president of its overseas business.
