This one caught us by surprise. Volvo Cars’ Marketing Director Alain Visser has made it clear that Volvo will end all involvement with motorsports by 2016. In a statement made to Dagens Industri, Visser said, “Motorsport does not conform with our brand, where we stand for smaller engines and safety. We are therefore pulling out of STCC, for example as soon as the contracts permits.” If it sounds bleak, it should. Ending ties with motorsports is only a part of a radical re-think of the marketing strategy of the Chinese-owned, Sweedish-originated manufacturer. In addition to walking away from racing, there is talk of ending all of their sponsorship deals with the exception of the Volvo Ocean Race and to limit auto show appearances to three locations: Geneva, Detroit, and Bejing/Shanghai. They are also exploring avenues involved with selling cars over the Internet.

Volvo isn’t the first vehicle anyone thinks of when it comes to racing, but they are very competent when they compete. Europeans have long known that Volvos, especially cars like the 242 and the 240, are excellent rally cars. The 850 was ran in Touring Car racing as a station wagon. And lately, the S60 has been running in Australia’s V8 Supercar series, where it’s been competitive with the Holdens, Fords, Nissans and Mercedes. Polestar Racing, Volvo’s partner in racing activities, had this to say: “We are going to continue racing in the 2015 STCC and V8 Supercars. The STCC contract runs out after 2015 and V8 Supercars after 2016. We are going to evaluate our participation after that, as we for example have done a number of times in the past for the STCC, a championship we have taken part in since 1996.”

Volvo has bowed out of racing before, only to return, so there’s a chance that this might just be a temporary setback. In 1987 Volvo pulled out of racing only to return to Touring Car in 1988. Will they do it again? Polestar Racing seems optimistic, but the rest of the scene looks like one of Volvo’s crash tests to us.

(Courtesy: TouringCarTimes)