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Volvo Headed Back to New Jersey
Ford's upscale brand--likely the last Ford European brand left in the company, once Jaguar and Land Rover are finally sold to Tata this month--is setting its sights for Rockleigh, N.J., where it has a customer service center.
Before the Swedish brand was absorbed into Ford's old Premier Automotive Group (PAG), Volvo had its headquarters in the Garden State. But the grand Ford plan under former CEO Jac Nasser was to combine Volvo, Aston Martin, Jaguar and Land Rover (along with office building cohorts Mazda) to create a new southern California power base for the company.
Aston Martin was the first to vacate--and with Jaguar Land Rover's imminent sale to the Indian concern, it was considered a given that Volvo would move its base back to the East Coast, closer to the company's European time zone and a bigger slice of its American buyers.
"We have evaluated the situation in the U.S. market and decided to consolidate our headquarters operations in one location," said Gerry Keaney, senior vice president of Marketing, Sales & Service for Volvo Car Corporation. "It is a natural choice to go back to Volvo Cars' original location in New Jersey as we already have major operations and facilities there."
In the move back, Volvo will also make Doug Speck its new CEO for North America. He replaces Anne Belec, who is now Ford's director of global marketing and will move to Dearborn to report to Jim Farley.
Responses (3 total)
By John | Posted: Apr 17th 2008, 03:41:03 PM
Mazda's corporate office is in their own building right next to the PAG building - Not "in" the PAG building. They were in there well before PAG existed, and my guess is they will be there once PAG is closed.
By Mike Davis | Posted: Mar 10th 2008, 08:33:29 PM
You've forgotten that Lincoln Mercury was also part of the ill-famed Irvine brainstorm. Nasser caused hundreds of LM employees--and their ad agency--to pull up stakes in Michigan and move to high-cost Orange County. Then to top that mania off, he put the west coast guys under the thumb of a boss in London. That's London, England, generally at least eight hours away, not to mention the sub-bosses had to fly to London not infrequently for management meetings, wasting days in the air and days in jet-lag. So now only Mazda is left paying the rent on the Irvine HQ--wonder how long that will last?
Bottom line: Ford Motor Company's balance sheet and market share problems are more due to mismanagement than product strangulation.
By brian | Posted: Mar 10th 2008, 04:32:24 PM
Makes sense to me.
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