[T5 Dave]

I'd mentioned this to George on the S80 thread, so seeing how it's a broader issue across the entire Volvo line I'll raise it again here.<P>To me, Volvo Marketing has forgotten an important market segment in their effort to focus on the lux-car buyer. To me, they've forgotten the performance-minded buyer who has a limited budget and would rather spend their last available $$$ on the performance items instead of the lux-o items. <P>In my case it was the S60 T5 without the sunroof or leather seats. BUT I had to order the car TDS to get it that way (and I HATE the vinyl inserts they put into the T5's stock seats.) But at least I got the T5.<P>For the 2002, Volvo mandated the sunroof as standard equipment and jacked up the price accordingly. That's great for the lux-minded buyers, but ignores the performance-edged (read--cheap) ones. [Hey!! My car got totaled and we weren't even halfway in paying off my wife's S80. NO WAY could I afford a fully loaded S60!]<P>But Volvo's marketing has totally ignored the pure performance segment, like the folk who wants just something better than a Mustang but can't afford the full-blown S60.<P>Besides, to me PAG has two lux-minded marques, the Jag and the Volvo. Why not steer one to the lux-end and the other to performance to take BMW head-on?<P>I say give us the decent cloth seats, drop the sunroof and get the car affordable again and break into a new market segment.<P>Am I the only one who thinks this way? How many S60/S80/V70 sales have been lost because of corporate's push to the luxury-end of the market?<P>Any thoughts on how to improve Volvo's marketing? They have a very hard time breaking the brick/college prof image, even with the S60's great styling. To me they haven't succeeded as well as they could have. To me, a push in the performance arena, say with a lightweight C60 coupe with 280 hp on tap would wake up the naysayers and get the folks into the showrooms.<P>My $.02<P>Your thoughts and mileage may vary.

 

[Phil Pugliese]

Don't get me started on this topic. You guys buy a car every couple of years or so... Yannis and I deal with this on a day to day basis. Volvo marketing has to hold the ball before dropping it. <P>Examples...<P>S60 2.4M.. you cannot get the "premium package" (SR, Leather, CD, Power Drivers seat). The only stand alone feature there that you can get is the leather. Volvo marketing thinks people buy sticks because they are cheaper and not because they are "drivers" It baffles me that if you want a SR and a CD you have to get the T5. How do we compete against BMW, Audi, Maxima ect w/o a stick?<P>S40.. No T4 or stick.<P>S80 have 2 colors that are almost identical.. Moondust and Ash Gold. Two more...S40 Midnight Metallic and Black Sapphire.<P>V70...Eurorails.. the painted trim peices have to be replaced if you add euorails...total cost being to the tune of $600.00 plus.<P>V70 2.4M...see S60 2.4M<P>Why no Weather Band in the XC?<P>Just my .02 cents in this rant...I'll be bahk!<P>

 

[[email protected]]

Well, there's the Spaceball, but that's in really short supply and only on one model right. No Spaceball in the V70 T-5.<P>There's a pretty funny read in the new Automobile Magazine. It's about the Cross Country XC Journey made by Volvo employees. A couple of ex-240 owners are the funniest part.<P>That got me to thinking. Volvo should build a spiritual successor to what the 240 represented. They should build a car larger than the V40, that is spartan with out a lot of heavy technology (besides the safety equipment), with a frugal motor (maybe a turbo also) that is made to be durable and fit a lot of stuff. It's just a thought.

 

[V70SAM]

I personally think that the higher end Volvo's - the S80 and V70 should have as little as possible as optional. I think that any car costing more than $30,000 should come standard with a sun roof, stability traction control, automatic climate control, etc. etc... Honda, and now even Mercedes have more standard features on their $30,000 cars than Volvo.<P>I don't think that they should deny the occational strippy to the public, but in all reality, even though you and a few other may not like the leather in Volvo, it would bet that the vast majority do, and would not buy a T5 with cloth. Thus Marketing is doing their job when they build cars to the taste of the majority.

 

[GrecianVolvo]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Phil Pugliese:<BR><B>Don't get me started on this topic. You guys buy a car every couple of years or so... Yannis and I deal with this on a day to day basis. Volvo marketing has to hold the ball before dropping it. <P>Examples...<P>S60 2.4M.. you cannot get the "premium package" (SR, Leather, CD, Power Drivers seat). The only stand alone feature there that you can get is the leather. Volvo marketing thinks people buy sticks because they are cheaper and not because they are "drivers" It baffles me that if you want a SR and a CD you have to get the T5. How do we compete against BMW, Audi, Maxima ect w/o a stick?<P>S40.. No T4 or stick.<P>S80 have 2 colors that are almost identical.. Moondust and Ash Gold. Two more...S40 Midnight Metallic and Black Sapphire.<P>V70...Eurorails.. the painted trim peices have to be replaced if you add euorails...total cost being to the tune of $600.00 plus.<P>V70 2.4M...see S60 2.4M<P>Why no Weather Band in the XC?<P>Just my .02 cents in this rant...I'll be bahk!<P></B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Well, all that is good but on the other hand, everyone complains about the lack of manual transmission cars but HOW MANY people are looking for manual tranny Volvos compared to those looking for manula tranny Audis or BMWs? The overwhelmng majority of Volvo buyers do not want manuals. And on top of that, dealers do not order them so if you do not have something in stock you will not sell it. I believe in manuals and I always stock 4-5 of them and we end up selling them. But the demand is feeble at best!<P>Now, Volvo has dropped the ball in that if you want to get a sunroof S60 w/ manual you cannot have leather or you can get a manual S60 w/ no sunroof but you have to get leather. That's pure nonsense...But don't blame Volvo for the lack of many manual cars...<P>

 

[745TRBOBRK]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by GrecianVolvo:<BR><B>But don't blame Volvo for the lack of many manual cars...</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>I'll blame Volvo for not having a stick. It doesn't make a 40 or 80 with one and the 60 will take four months or more to get.<P>

 

[11110000]

I feel the same way - but I don't know if I can really blame Volvo. Demand for stripper models is usually low, and hi-po stripper models even lower. It's a catch-22, you want to attract those kinds of buyers, but you don't want to be left with a bunch of unsold cars. It would be nice to have the <I>option</I> to order just about whatever I wanted, though - a base S60 w/cloth, manual tranny, HPT motor, and maybe a sunroof...<P>My dad's a Volvo salesman. I've seen models like that sit in the showroom, then on the lot, then get discounted, driven as demos, etc...until the right buyer happens to come along. After that, fat chance the dealer will order another one.

 

[T5 Dave]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by 11110000:<BR><B>I feel the same way - but I don't know if I can really blame Volvo. Demand for stripper models is usually low, and hi-po stripper models even lower. It's a catch-22, you want to attract those kinds of buyers, but you don't want to be left with a bunch of unsold cars. It would be nice to have the <I>option</I> to order just about whatever I wanted, though - a base S60 w/cloth, manual tranny, HPT motor, and maybe a sunroof...<P></B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>But we're not even getting that anymore, now that the sunroof is standard on the T5. But to have the option to even <I>delete</I> it would be welcome, which isn't happening. And I think that leaves the pure-performance buyer out of the running for those willing to order their own car & wait for it (like me).<P>But really, Volvo has a shot at the performance sector with some of these models and they're just not pushing that aspect of the car at all.<P>

 

[Orion747]

My beef with with the S40. I had to get all the available "packages" if I wanted Sunroof and Leather & TRACS. Which meant getting a power seat, wood, and a few other gewgaws that put me 5% over a comparable 1.8t Jetta and 10% over an Accord Coupe.<P>I went with the Accord. <P>I agree wholeheartedly that Volvo needs to remember the value part of the equation.<P>

 

[GrecianVolvo]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Orion747:<BR><B>My beef with with the S40. I had to get all the available "packages" if I wanted Sunroof and Leather & TRACS. Which meant getting a power seat, wood, and a few other gewgaws that put me 5% over a comparable 1.8t Jetta and 10% over an Accord Coupe.<P>I went with the Accord. <P>I agree wholeheartedly that Volvo needs to remember the value part of the equation.<P></B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><BR>You could have ordered the car the way you wanted it. You would just have to wait about 7 weeks which is the same for most manufacturers.<P><BR>Yannis<P><P>