Volvo Car Corp. has named two outsiders to fill critical posts as it embarks on an ambitious plan to invest up to $11 billion in new products over the next five years and to more than double global sales to 800,000 units a year by 2020.
The plan, announced in Beijing on Friday, foresees that 400,000 of those sales will come from China, where the automaker will begin production at a new plant in Chengdu, in Sichuan province, in 2013.
Volvo named Miami advertising executive Richard Monturo, to head up global marketing effective April 1, the first time the post has been filled since Volvo’s acquisition last August by China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. The automaker also is bringing in industry veteran and engineering specialist Peter Mertens, 49, as senior vice president for research and development. Mertens, who has held senior management posts at Mercedes-Benz, General Motors and India’s Tata Motors over the past 20 years, will succeed acting R&D chief Paul Welander effective April 1. Welander has been named vice president of quality and customer satisfaction.
