Leif Johansson, the man at the head of the world’s second largest truck manufacturer, is to resign next summer.
Johansson has been CEO at the company for 14 years and instrumental in its transformation from a car manufacturer to a heavy trucks and construction equipment maker.
Following the $6.45 billion sale of Volvo Cars to Ford in 1999, Johansson soon picked off France’s Renault Trucks and Mack Trucks in the US, and then Japan’s Nissan Diesel trucks in 2006 and finally the road construction machinery unit of Ingersoll-Rand in 2007.
In response to the economic downturn Johansson cut thousands of jobs at the company while Volvo posted a net loss of SEK14.7 billion ($2.14b) in 2009. However the company has just posted its third consecutive month of growth and it is looking to capitalise on the rebounding demand in Europe and North America.
Niclas Hoglund, an analyst with Swedbank Markets in Stockholm, told Bloomberg that: “The new CEO will get a really good entry point. The market wants someone who can look with new eyes at Volvo’s structure. Volvo could benefit from someone shaking up the company a little bit.”
The head of Volvo’s construction equipment unit, Olof Persson, has been named as one of the leading candidates for the top job.
Volvo, along with rivals Daimler AG and Scania AB, is now benefiting from rebounding heavy-truck markets in North America and Asia following the recession.
Volvo posted third-quarter net income of SEK2.81 billion ($409m), its third consecutive quarterly profit, as sales rose 32 percent to 64 billion kronor during the period from a year earlier. The company forecast in October that the truck market will grow 10% in Europe this year and as much as 30% in North America.
