Senior Appointments at Volvo Malaysia

Shah Alam, 14 May 2014 – Volvo Malaysia (Volvo) today announced several senior level appointments for Aftermarket, Finance and Human Resources for Region Malaysia, which covers the markets of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. The announcement includes the appointment of Gilles Laroche as Vice President, Aftermarket, and Carol Tong as Vice President, Human Resources effective 1st April 2014, and Emily Ye as Chief Financial Controller effective 1st May 2014.

Mats Nilsson, Managing Director, Volvo Malaysia said “I am very pleased to welcome Gilles, Carol and Emily to the management team of Region Malaysia at Volvo. Their appointments reflect our continuous step in bolstering our management team to help drive our growth in tandem with market needs for innovative and reliable trucking solutions.

Gilles Laroche brings with him a wealth of capability in the trucking industry, stemming from having more than 30 years of solid work experience at Renault Trucks in the European market. His areas of expertise cover Research and Development, Technical Services and Network Management to Aftermarket and Sales. Gilles  replaces Martin Kavanagh, who has relocated to fill another position within the Volvo Group in Tokyo.

Commenting on his new appointment, Gilles Laroche said, “This is an exciting new market for me as the region offers such vast potential for growth. My objective is to deploy the Volvo Group policy and quality service in aftermarket care across Volvo’s network in Region Malaysia and to enhance customer satisfaction with the same shared vision, goals and action plans.
To achieve this, the first step is to listen and analyze the situation in the market for our customers, and to apply our global best practice to further reinforce the Volvo brand experience.”

Carol Tong joined Volvo China in October 2007. Since September 2009, in her role as Vice President of Volvo China Investment Company Limited, she has been overseeing Human Resource operations and harmonization across Volvo’s businesses in China. Following this, Carol led the human resource functions of compensation and benefits, talent management and leadership development, supporting markets and regions of Asia Truck Operations, Asia Sales and Asia Oceania Sales. In this new role for Region Malaysia, Carol will lead the Human Resource function of the truck business and the joint company at Volvo Malaysia Sdn Bhd. Carol replaces Harvindar Singh, who has pursued other endeavours outside the Volvo Group.

Emile Ye joined Volvo China in April 2011 as Financial Manager for Asia Sales. Following that, she served as the FP & A Director for Asia Oceania Sales, Volvo Group, based in Singapore. In this new role, Emily will oversee the planning and management of accounting and financial matters for Region Malaysia. Emily replaces Philippe Roques, who has moved to a new position at Volvo in India.

Connected Car services come to market with Volvo Car Group and Ericsson

• Connected Vehicle Cloud based on Ericsson’s Multiservice Delivery Platform will provide infotainment, apps and communication services in Volvo’s new cars 
• Drivers and passengers will benefit from cloud-enabled services and applications
• Managed Services, Consulting and Systems Integration provided by Ericsson

Volvo Car Group will use Ericsson’s (NASDAQ: ERIC) Connected Vehicle Cloud in order to allow drivers, passengers and the car to connect to services available in the cloud.

Drivers and passengers will be able to access applications for information, navigation, and entertainment from a screen in the car. At the same time, Volvo Cars will be able to open parts of the platform to other players in the eco-system of the automotive industry.

Content providers will have agreements with Volvo and the other members of the ecosystem, like internet radio providers, road authorities, cities’ governments, toll-road operators and others.

Lex Kerssemakers, Senior Vice President Product Strategy and Vehicle Line Management at Volvo Cars, says: “We clearly see that cars in the near future will integrate the same level of digital services that consumers today are used to have in their homes or at work. This is a strategically important part of Volvo’s investments for the future where we intend to take a leading position.”

The partnership calls for Ericsson to perform systems integration of the solution with Volvo Car Group IS/IT environments and in-vehicle systems. Ericsson will also provide managed services for a global cloud solution with a secure connection between the vehicle and all players in the value chain and in the ecosystem.

Kerssemakers continues: “Ericsson is a perfect partner for Volvo Car Group, bringing extensive experience and global business acumen to the table. On top of this both companies share the same ambition to develop industry leading solutions in line with our shared vision of the future based on a networked society.”

Per Borgklint, head of Business Unit Support Solutions, Ericsson, says: “This partnership is evidence of the transformation across our entire society as we move into the Networked Society.  Drivers want services that technology makes possible, in real time and in the context that fits them personally. Our skills in System Integration and Service Enablement will match Volvo’s strategy.”

Volvo's expertise in driver behavior and traffic safety measurements, along with Ericsson's consulting, system integration and managed services expertise from mobile communication solutions, will be used to define and select future services to be supported by the platform, keeping in mind the driver's priority on the traffic situation.

Ericsson Connected Vehicle Cloud targets the existing and future demands on scalability, security and flexibility in the global automotive industry.

Autodesk Alias Software Helps Volvo Car Corporation’s Vision of Luxury and Good Design

Software played a key part in creation of much acclaimed Concept You

MALAYSIA, February 15, 2012 - Volvo Car Corporation (Volvo) one of the global car industry’s strongest brands, has revealed that Autodesk design and visualisation software was key to the successful design of its Concept You car. The fully-functional concept model was unveiled to great critical acclaim at the Frankfurt Motor Show last autumn.

Following the earlier success of Volvo’s Concept Universe at the Shanghai Motor Show in April 2011, the Volvo design team was under extreme pressure to further refine its ideas and produce a working model with full interior in a matter of months, in time for Frankfurt. Both concepts were created to demonstrate Volvo’s vision for the future of luxury cars under its new ownership.Centre front seat and interior of the Volvo Concept You

Using Autodesk Alias software, the concept modelling team was able to quickly create digital prototypes from the designer’s initial sketches. This enabled the team to quickly hone and test the design on screen, helping to save time and maintain the original design integrity behind the concept. As a result, designers were able to get to the best option with the technical surfacing and visualisation of the car as quickly as possible without having to start from scratch with every iteration.
The open, side frame of the Volvo Concept You

Although the Volvo team was working under a particularly tight deadline, timescales such as this are becoming typical in such a competitive industry. Cars are becoming increasingly complex and sophisticated with a high technical content, yet manufacturers are under pressure to design them faster, while incurring lower costs. Like Volvo, a growing number of manufacturers are using Autodesk Alias to accelerate the entire design process from concept to class A modelling.
The frontal exterior design of the Volvo Concept You

As part of the design workflow, Volvo also used Autodesk Showcase software for advanced visualisation of its ideas. This enabled the concept to be quickly communicated to the design management team and board so that they could easily understand what was being created.
Despite the punishing time-frame, Volvo’s new concept was ready in time to create a real talking point at the show. The automotive press was full of accolades, describing the car as, “beautifully done”, “a much-needed tonic” and simply “stunning”.
The rear and top exterior design of the Volvo Concept You

A long-term user of Autodesk software, Volvo has recently become a Platinum Support customer which gives it direct access to Autodesk experts, promoting a two-way dialogue to help influence future development of Alias and other products.