Volvo to kill off the V50 in the US

Volvo have been facing falling sales in the US for almost 7 years now, and it has decided that the best strategy to improve sales is to consolidate its model line-up, and focus on its core models, dropping several others along the way.

Volvo currently offers nine models for sale in the US, about the same as Volkswagen, but achieve only one-fifth of the sales as the Germans. The Swedish brand, now owned by China's Geely, feels that it can boost sales by concentrating on its most popular models.

"Five or six is probably a good number", said Doug Speck, head of Volvo's operations in the U.S. "We have to focus on the key segments with significant volume potential". Volvo added that the V50 will be the first model to get the chop in the US.

Volvo have not mentioned what other models will be discontinued, but said that the S60 sedan and XC60 and XC90 crossovers will remain. Volvo will subsequently try to boost sales with more advertising and expects "double-digit" percentage growth in the U.S in 2011, and will introduce hybrid and electric cars to the range as well.