Volvo Cars Reappoints CEO Amid Tariff and Industry Challenges
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Volvo Cars, majority-owned by China's Geely, has brought back former CEO Hakan Samuelsson to head the company for the next two years at a turbulent time marked by mounting tariff pressures, replacing Jim Rowan who has run the group since 2022.
Samuelsson, 74, takes the helm after U.S. President Donald Trump last week followed through on his threats for new tariffs on imported cars, saying a 25% duty on vehicles not built in the U.S. would kick in this week.
"The car industry is under pressure from many directions," Samuelsson said in a statement.
Shares in the company, which are down almost 70% since the group's 2021 listing, fell by 1.2% to a new all-time low by 0844 GMT on Monday, while the wider market in Stockholm was down 1.6%.
Samuelsson is taking on the job on Tuesday and will serve a two-year term while the group prepares to appoint a long-term successor, it said on Sunday.
Rowan's exit comes only about three years after his appointment in January 2022, which followed Volvo's listing on the Stockholm Stock Exchange the previous year.
Volvo Cars board Chair Eric Li said the company was facing fast-moving technological shifts, growing geopolitical challenges, and intensifying competition.
"He brings a rare combination of industrial depth, strategic clarity, and proven leadership and Hakan has a broad knowledge of our group," Li said of the veteran CEO who ran Volvo from 2012 to 2022.
Last month Volvo Cars warned that 2025 would be a tumultuous and competitive year during which it might struggle to match its 2024 sales performance and profitability.
Geely Sweden, which manages the group's investments in the European brands such as Polestar and Volvo Cars, declined to give further comment.
Trump is set to announce further tariffs on Wednesday, which he has dubbed "Liberation Day."
(Reporting by Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru and Johan Ahlander and Marie Mannes in Stockholm; Editing by Sharon Singleton, Jane Merriman and David Evans)
