Jacoby believes it needs to stop chasing the 'premium' market high ground currently held by BMW, Audi and Mercedes. "Let's ditch this talk about premium," said Jacoby. "It sounds like a pricing strategy and it's got an expensive ring to it. We need to focus on elegant Scandinavian simplicity, our own unique identity, and not copy our competitors."

Jacoby is targeting 800,000 sales per year globally by 2020, more than double the 380,000 units that Volvo expects to sell in 2010. He says that re-establishing the firm's strength in the US market will be a crucial part of his plan. "We have lost ground in the US," explains the president and chief executive of Volvo Cars. "We are at the bottom, looking up."

Meanwhile, Volvo Auto India launched its latest offering – the compact SUV Volvo XC60 – on November 24. The tech-laden SUV is priced at Rs 41.41 lakh (ex-showroom, Mumbai and is powered by the latest- generation D5 twin-turbo diesel engine.