There’s no better place than the car express awards to catch up with the great and the good from the global motor industry. and because I’m partly responsible for him entering the car company numerous years ago, I had a long chat with Volvo director Mike Johnstone at the ceremony last week.
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He agrees his firm’s on a roll after winning car express trophies, plus the world car of the Year title a few months back. Although he’s too modest to admit it, Volvo isn’t unlike Audi was 20 years ago: taking on recognized premium firms, before matching or beating them. Volvo’s credentials are bolstered by the fact that, like Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar and Lexus, it has just picked up two car express new car gongs, while Audi failed to win one!
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Johnstone seems flattered by comparisons with the still-great company from Ingolstadt. Yet he insists Volvo is still warming up and there is much work to do. One area is convincing the public that Volvo is now a proper, fully-fledged premium outfit that is worthy of a place in the same league as Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lexus and Mercedes.