Volvo Chooses Hotshot Executive to Replace R&D Lead Poached by Audi
Volvo has named Henrik Green as its new head of researching and development, replacing Peter Mertens, who was usurped by Audi in November.
Green, 43, entered Volvo’s executive branch in October as the senior vice president of sales, production planning, and customer service. Volvo says the vacant position, which was created for Green specifically, will be filled eventually. With Mertens gone, Volvo is depending upon Green to implement plug-in hybrid drivetrains throughout the company’s fleet and develop an autonomous vehicle by 2021.
Mertens’s unexpected move to Audi created a vacuum the Swedish automaker needed to fill quickly, though the company seems confident in its choice. “Henrik is ideally qualified to lead our team of highly talented engineers around the world as we enter the second phase of Volvo’s transformation,” Volvo CEO Håkan Samuelsson said in an official statement.
That team of engineers totals around 6,500 people, many of whom have overseen the transformation of Volvo Cars’ technical operations after the company was acquired by China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding in 2010. However, leaving Ford for Geely seems to have worked out favorably for Volvo, considering it is preparing itself for the third consecutive year of record sales.
Last year, Volvo’s global sales surpassed 503,000 units — a number the automaker expects to top this year as it pursues a goal of growing its global volume to 800,000 vehicles by 2020.
“There has never been a more exciting time to work in automotive research and development and there has never been a more exciting time to do so at Volvo. The industry is changing and I intend to make sure that Volvo leads that change,” Green said in the statement.
Green joined Volvo in 1996 and has worked as the company’s vice president of product strategy and vehicle line management in Sweden and China.
He has a background in research and development, powertrain development and other advanced areas of engineering such as software and control systems. Green was also one of the leading figures behind Volvo’s decision to move ahead using only four- and three-cylinder engines.
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
More by Matt Posky
Comments
Join the conversation
"Mertens’s unexpected move to Audi created a vacuum the Swedish automaker needed to fill quickly" Volvo is a CHINESE automaker, not a Swedish one!
This is the last Swedish car company standing. Wow, they are in worse shape than Detroit.