Volvo launches shared mobility business

Volvo Cars is to set up a new shared mobility business unit as part of a broad expansion of its car sharing and mobility services strategy.

The new business unit will be based around car-sharing company Sunfleet, which has been operated by Volvo since 1998. Based in Sweden, Sunfleet has around 50,000 subscribers generating approximately 250,000 transactions in more than 50 Swedish cities.

While Sunfleet will form the core of the new business, Volvo said that it will in future be expanded into new global markets and provide an entirely new range of mobility services to meet changing consumer expectations around how they own and engage with cars.

Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars, said: “Private car ownership will not disappear, but as a car-maker we need to embrace the fact that it will reduce and – more importantly – change. We have a proven and profitable concept in our home market that we intend to leverage as we develop a global concept.

“Today’s notion of mobility and car ownership is changing. By recognising this fundamental and rapid shift in individual mobility behaviour and responding to it, we hope to ensure that Volvo will continue to be relevant in the eyes of the consumer.”

More details of Volvo Cars’ shared mobility strategy will be announced in coming months, but the company says it intends to complement current and traditional car ownership models with a range of on-demand mobility solutions.

The chief executive of the new business will be Bodil Eriksson, currently vice president product, marketing and communications at Volvo Car USA.