Volvo boss backs V8 Supercars

The new boss of Volvo's Australian business has made it clear he fully supports the V8 Supercars campaign introduced this year by his predecessor and sees it as a valuable promotional tool for the company as it changes its image and rolls out a new generation of vehicles.

Kevin McCann officially took over from Matt Braid as Volvo Car Australia managing director immediately after the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 and hosted the company's corporate activities at the Castrol EDGE Gold Coast 600.

Volvo's entry into V8 Supercars racing with Garry Rogers Motorsport and Polestar - Volvo's global performance partner - and the comprehensive way it has activated the sponsorship was seen to be very much Braid's vision.

That marketing program's success has been aided by the stellar performances of 21-year New Zealander Scott McLaughlin, who has run at the front of the field in the Volvo Polestar racing S60 V8 all year.

McCann, who has previously spent time at both BMW and Audi and was a key figure in Hyundai's spectacular sales rise in Australia for several years made it clear what Braid has started he intends to continue.

"I have inherited it and it is a package that is already existing and working and the feedback that I am getting is it is working very well," said McCann. "I think we will continue to look for more and better leverage points to make sure of it.

"I think it is a great way to showcase our product and technology, it is a really wonderful rallying point for our staff and our dealer network, who need the motivation and enthusiasm to continue to work the market."

Volvo went into V8 Supercars to promote its S60 mid-size sedan and the emerging Polestar brand. Next comes an entirely new generation of vehicles based on a new architecture and powered by a new family of three and four-cylinder turbocharged engines.

The wholesale changes begin with the new XC90 SUV in 2015 but will spread across the entire range within years. McCann thinks V8 Supercars can help communicate the dramatic brand reshaping that is now underway and the range-wide product overhaul which will accelerate it.

"I think that a brand like Volvo - which is a very well established brand - has a very deep appreciation and position in the Australian market," he said. "But its products probably no longer reflect the classic perceptions that it has and motorsport gives us a pivotal point to reposition the perception."

McCann has a deep understanding of sports sponsorships and the ways car companies market their wares. For instance, when he was Hyundai Australia's sales and marketing boss the Korean company backed the Carlton AFL club and the national A-League soccer.

But he says that for Volvo going motor racing is the right move.

"I think sports sponsorship is part of working in the Australian market," he said. "It's a little bit unique compared to other major markets in the world; the fact the Australian audience is so passionate about whichever sport they follow, whether it's to come along to an event, or whether it's watching it on television, or reading about it in the various media they use to cover it.

"Sport is really a big part of our lives and if we want to communicate with the Australian public then sport is an ideal way to go," he added. "Now we are a car company so probably the most direct sport we can become involved with in a competitive sense is motorsport and if we can add that involvement, that active engagement with the marketing elements and the sponsorship elements it also comes with, then it should be a good thing for us."

McCann also revealed he had a decent understanding of how the motorsport sponsorship business works from his days at Audi - although he was too politic to mention Volvo's luxury market rival by name.

"Many years ago I became instrumental in that brand becoming involved in the sport as it existed at that time and I learned a lot from that activity and I understand how the dots get connected between the fans, the marketplace, the teams and the sponsors.

"There are a lot of synergies to be be leveraged in that sense. Motorsport is quite different now to what it was then but those issues still remain as issues and opportunities for us."