Volvo counts on sedan updates to boost sales
 | Speck: U.S. is most important market. |
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PARIS -- Volvo's sedans will get a major refresh next year that should boost sales, says Doug Speck, global head of marketing and sales for Volvo Car Corp.
The updates planned for the mid-sized S60 sedan and larger S80 will be followed by a redesign of the XC90 crossover in the second half of 2014. The XC90 will be the first vehicle to use Volvo's SPA, scalable platform architecture.
That will be followed by a redesigned S60 sedan and S80 sedan "over time," Speck said.
Volvo is still on track to increase worldwide sales to at least 800,000 vehicles by 2020, he said. The U.S. market "is strategically the most important," Speck said.
He would not give a specific forecast for U.S. sales in 2020. He said 2012 sales in the United States are "a little ahead" of the 70,000 vehicle forecast set earlier this year. "Clearly it is a vision we have, and we want to get into that range," Speck said.
U.S. sales are being driven by the S60 sedan and XC60 crossover. Through August Volvo's U.S. sales fell 1 percent to 46,653 vehicles, but the XC60 was up 29 percent and S60 sales increased 16 percent.
You can reach Diana T. Kurylko at dkurylko@crain.com. -- Follow Diana on 
