Volvo Cars appoints Xiaolin Yuan as senior VP for APAC

Volvo Cars has appointed Xiaolin Yuan as senior vice-president for the Asia Pacific region effective March 1, replacing Lars Danielson who will retire at the end of February.

Mr Yuan is currently deputy vice-president for Asia Pacific, a position he has held for the past two years. He previously spent four years as the head of Li Shufu’s office and a member of Volvo Cars’ Board of Directors. Mr Li is the chairman of Volvo Cars.

Mr Yuan joined Volvo as head of mergers and acquisitions and oversaw the purchase of Volvo Cars by Zhejiang Geely Holding in 2010.

In his new role, he will be supported by Geert Bruyneel, currently vice-president purchasing & manufacturing APAC, who is appointed deputy senior vice-president, Asia Pacific.

“I am delighted to welcome Xiaolin to the executive management team in this key strategic role,” said Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive. “He brings his local knowledge and experience to a role that will be central to Volvo’s continuing global development as he leads the company’s continued growth in this key region. I also want to pay tribute to Lars for the invaluable contribution he has made to our high speed development in China and would like to wish him well for the future”. 

Mr Danielson joined Volvo Cars in 2006 after a career at Saab and General Motors. He was the general manager for Volvo’s Torslanda plant in Sweden until 2010 when he moved to China, following Geely’s acquisition of Volvo Cars.

In China he was responsible for establishing Volvo’s manufacturing footprint before being appointed senior vice-president for China in 2013 and then senior vice-president for Asia Pacific in 2015.

Mr Danielson has overseen the rapid expansion of Volvo Cars’ in China with the opening of two plants in Chengdu and Daqing and an engine plant in Zhangjiakou. During the same period, the number of employees in China has grown from 150 in 2010 to more than 6,000 today and sales increased from around 31,000 cars in 2010 to more than 90,000 in 2016, making China the number one sales market for Volvo worldwide.

“I am tremendously proud of the role I have been able to play over the last six years in China” said Mr Danielson. “In this period Volvo Cars has changed beyond recognition with over 6,000 employees and expanded from China to more than 16 markets in Asia Pacific. We have achieved an average growth of 24% per year since 2010 and have established Volvo Cars as a key player in the China market, our second home market.”