Auto Express

Interview: Why did Dyson’s former boss join Volvo as CEO?


born in Scotland Jim Rowan took over as CEO and president of Volvo Cars in March 2022, to oversee the transition to an all-electric and primarily software-powered automaker by 2030. .

Before that, his most important role was as CEO of hit consumer electronics giant Dyson, from 2017-2020 – that’s when it was growing. Its now-cancelled EV project.

Running a luxury vacuum cleaner manufacturer isn’t your typical path to the top of an auto company, with management often dominated by people who have accumulated decades of industry experience.

However, as ‘car companies’ transform into ‘mobile companies’ and focus more on batteries, chips, self-driving cars, software services and direct-to-consumer retail, the techniques Traditional capabilities may no longer be enough. Volvo’s parent, Geely, clearly thinks so.

As part of his learning about the car business and Volvo in particular, Mr Rowan is spending his time on what he calls the “poles” of the world, with Australia being one of them – a market where Volvo just announced all-time record annual sales and promise to only selling electric cars from 2026.

THAN: Volvo sold more electric cars than ICE cars in Australia last month

We wonder what made Mr. Rowan want to join the iconic Swedish car brand, how his unusual leadership path led to the role and he thinks the decision which is the most important.

“Obviously I don’t come from that industry myself. I think one of the most important things is, especially when you take on a new role and you take on a new industry, really try to understand what the industry is about,” he says to start. .

“We have about 42,000 people in the company. Most of them really understand cars, so I think it’s time we start bringing in something other than cars as the industry goes through this change.

“The reason I joined Volvo is quite simple. Three real reasons. It’s a great brand, I grew up with Volvo, I think it has real authenticity, it’s a brand that stands for something.

“I think it has a real authentic soul, and we’ve seen that manifest over the years: the invention of the three-point seat belt, but then the courage to do it. giving it as an open patent lets me talk to the kind of company that I love working for.

“So that was an important factor for me when I joined the company: the actual brand itself and what it means.

“And then you’ve got this really interesting – I’m an engineer – [experience] when you go through a massive transition across industries and we’ve got a two-way transition going on right now in the automotive sector.

“On the one hand, you’ve got the technical transition, which is from gasoline engines to electric motors and from drivers to self-driving vehicles – all the software, the electronics, the lidar, the radar, the cameras. , sensors, code, computer technology, everything. poured into it at the same time. And as an engineer, it’s just an exciting space to be in.”

On the other hand, Mr. Rowan discussed is the industry’s shift towards sales channels controlled by automakers who want more direct interaction with buyers and less reliance on franchisees. . Volvo is testing a direct-to-buyer model in the UK and Sweden, but there are currently no plans to follow the Polestar brand (which it owns 48%) down this route in Australia – yet.

“At the same time, you have another transition, which is going directly to the customer and building a relevant e-commerce tool that can connect directly with the end customer,” said Mr. Rowan. .

“Not being in the industry, I actually find it quite strange that you can sell a product worth $40, 50, 60, 70k to a customer and never speak to that customer directly. . Everyone come in [franchise] dealer, buy the car through the dealership, and then all services, interactions, and connections are through the dealership.

“And now I think the demographics are changing due to the way people shop online and the way people expect to connect directly with the OEM that makes the product. Of course, a great example of that is Apple,” he added, though Tesla would be another example.

“So the technical and commercial heavy double transition, and of course everything [being] Underpinned by a real move towards sustainability,” added Mr. Rowan, are the key factors behind his desire to enter the car industry.

“I think we were one of the first, let’s call it ‘traditional’, car companies that said ‘we’re going all-electric. We’ll be an all-electric car company by 2030. We’ll be halfway there by 2025. No if, no but, no maybe, that’s all. We launched an IPO based on that message. We take people’s money from the market to say ‘this is where we’re holding our company’.

“Things are starting to seem clearer now, but when the team made that decision – which was before me, so I can’t count on it – the team basically said, you know, ‘we are all here. This is where we’re going and we think we should go there.”

When asked to expand on how his specific skills could bring the company in times of change, Mr. Rowan again pointed to the fact that Volvo has no shortage of auto people, but has There could be a shortage of people with a broader technology background and customer experience background.

“We have 42,000 people in the company, I would say 41,500 people who really understand cars. I think we have solved the problem is my honest answer to it, and not only the subordinates, but also a lot of senior people who have worked in our company for many years. a long time,” he told us.

“What we don’t have is, what will this look like in five years? What does thinking look like in five years’ time?

“Because I come from the tech sector, I was surprised when I entered the auto industry at how much intellectual property and technology was outsourced from the major auto companies. They outsource so-called tier one people,” he said, referring to major vendors like Bosch, ZF and Nvidia.

“So you take the traditional model of car design: you go to luxury cars, you say ‘hey, I need an electronic control unit for lights and brakes and this and that’, and they say ‘okay, we’ll sell to you, here’s the cost, we choose the silicon, we choose the software and you plug and play’.

“Tesla of course came in and said, ‘no, we want to do core computing’. And it was the first time something really different had been done in a long time.

“So I’m going to summarize it by saying, the big profound changes in the industry that the industry is currently moving towards, which I think I can help bring about. [about] from the tech field, as I understand software and understand silicon, and in tomorrow’s next-generation mobile world, if you don’t understand software and silicon, you’re in trouble.

“The problem is that when you go through these transitions, it looks like the transition is going to be linear because it’s 5%. [gains] a year and then boom, it reaches an inflection point and the slope increases, and it happens very quickly.

“The big problem is that if you wait for the inflection point before you invest, it’s too late. And there are a lot of companies that say, ‘I’ll wait until electrification goes mainstream and I’ll invest’. You know what, man? You just lost another market. It doesn’t work like that.

“You see it in smartphones. I have been working in the smartphone industry for a long time [Blackberry].”

“… It won’t be a profound change in the auto industry. But this theory of oligopolies as it transitions to next-generation technology should come into play. And by 2025, 26 winners will be winners and a lot of other people who haven’t invested in technology will not have IPs and they will go back to their old position, which is to buy some other tier one IP to try and stay relevant.

“And that is why we are investing in core computers. That’s why we are investing in batteries [Volvo has a JV battery plant in Sweden with Northvolt]. That’s why we are investing in our own e-motor. That’s why we are investing in our own inverters. That’s why we make our own battery management system.

“But it’s also why we’re so picky about what we buy versus what we build.

“Use infotainment. The Qualcomm Snapdragon processor is a pretty good one, used in the majority of mobile phones. Qualcomm knows how to make silicon, we don’t have to be involved in that. We need to understand silicon, but we don’t have to have a fabricator and make it.

“I’m also glad that out of the 7 billion people on this planet, 5 billion already have an iPhone or an Android, so I think they’ve got that in terms of infotainment. I really don’t care if they say ‘Hello Siri’ or ‘Hello Google’, I don’t need them to say ‘Hello Volvo’, what does that actually add?

THAN: Polestar 3, Volvo EX90 use Google HD Maps

“…Android and Apple will continue to invest heavily in those platforms because they want it to remain relevant. So that’s another ‘buy’ for us. And then we switch to silicon, and we’re buying them from Nvidia. We don’t make our own SoC [system on a chip]I don’t think we need to.”

Mr. Rowan went into detail about the chip’s burgeoning computing power and how Volvo intends to stay in its lane as they improve, with iterations in 2025 expected to be capable. incredible 1000-1200 TOPs (trillions of operations per second or tera of operations per second).

“It’s the computing power anyone needs. Our job now is to take that computing power and do something meaningful with it,” he said. “And that’s done through the software stack,” he added, referring to the next version of Volvo’s ADAS safety system.

“Sorry, I know it’s a long answer to a short question… I should have just said software and silicon!” added Mr. Rowan.

This year, Volvo will launch the new EX90 full-size electric SUV – the safest and most calculated Volvo ever – and the all-new EX30 small electric SUV.

THAN: Geely releases 2022 sales figures, Volvo and Polestar EV increase

newsofmax

News of max: Update the world's latest breaking news online of the day, breaking news, politics, society today, international mainstream news .Updated news 24/7: Entertainment, Sports...at the World everyday world. Hot news, images, video clips that are updated quickly and reliably

Related Articles

Back to top button
Immediate Matrix Immediate Maximum