Fellow Wine Lovers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ve always liked the Swedes. To clarify, all the Swedes we have met have come across as humble, fair, honest, creative, calm, open-minded and non-judgemental \u2013 thoroughly nice people generally speaking and let\u2019s face it, everyone loves an IKEA hot dog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But now, a well trusted Swedish friend has stolen my childhood:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We continue to rapidly transform our product offer, which means not only moving towards full electrification, but also shifting to new platforms and technologies across all our cars. We will naturally need to evolve and consolidate our line-up as we prioritise fully electric cars and make this technological transition.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result, we have removed further models from the UK line-up. These include the S60, V60 and V90. Demand for our existing SUV line-up continues to grow, while interest in our forthcoming fully electric EX30 and EX90 models is strong. The vast majority of our customers opt for an SUV. The XC40, XC60 and XC90 all sit in the top three positions in their respective segments when it comes to UK sales. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, appetite for our saloon and estate models has fallen to very low levels in the UK, which has led to our decision to remove these models from sale in the UK.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n To be fair, current President and CEO, Jim Rowan, was born in the Sweden\u2019s southernmost city, Glasgow, so perhaps he has different character traits to other swedes but notwithstanding this, Volvo, what have you done? <\/p>\n\n\n\n GUU 560W was the first Volvo that arrived in front of my parent\u2019s house in August 1980. A bright white estate car, far more luxurious than the beige Austin Maxi it was replacing and the first time I\u2019d ever seen my Mum look happy with the car she was driving. It took me to school, took us all to Wales on numerous occasions and went to Sainsbury\u2019s quite a lot. About 7 years later it got replaced by another 240, this time in dark blue\/green \u2013 never buy a white car if you live in the country was the lesson learnt, and so we proceeded for the next few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following Mum\u2019s advice, E521 WKJ, a burgundy Volvo 360 was my first car. Often found galloping up and down the M4 in pursuit of some sort of university education or at other times plummeting down the M5 in pursuit of a pasty, some scrumpy and some waves \u2013 this was always far more comfortable than if we\u2019d gone in Martin\u2019s orange Ford Fiesta!<\/p>\n\n\n\n And now, M735 LDU, the car that delivers all of our wines to your front doors, a Volvo 740 estate, dark blue\/green again, born in 1995, London resident since 2012. Sadiq has ensured ULEZ means we have to say farewell at the end of the month and Volvo have now ensured that we won\u2019t be able to replace it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cappetite for our saloon and estate models has fallen to very low levels in the UK, which has led to our decision to remove these models from sale in the UK<\/em>\u201d \u2013 fair enough but they must be hoping that the UK appetite for Polestar saloon cars, the high performance electric car manufacturer they bought in 2015, doesn\u2019t suffer the same fate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, before we march on IKEA and boycott Tetra Pak (difficult), we should perhaps be more Swedish in our reaction and just be grateful for all the good times that we have had \u2013 as the owner of the Volvo 240 that has completed over 828,000 miles put it in The Sunday Times<\/em> article last weekend \u2013 \u201cI prefer the feel of driving a car rather than the car driving you\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well said and Valete all you Volvo estates\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n