33 McLaughlin EV03 16 01632
Bruce Newton5 May 2016
NEWS

Politics kills Volvo V8 program

Supercar series departure decision made high in Sweden without Aussie input

In what appears to be a classic case of boardroom politicking, Volvo’s global senior management made the shock decision to axe its V8 Supercar championship involvement without offering Australian division boss Kevin McCann the chance to pitch for an extension of the program when he was in Sweden last week.

And McCann, who spoke optimistically to motoring.com.au before he flew out of announcing a new factory-backed deal with Garry Rogers Motorsport within weeks, says Volvo’s withdrawal decision is so complete there is no chance of GRM racing the Volvo S60 V8 as a privateer entry in 2017, even though the team says that’s what it intends to do.

“In the contract there is a requirement for him [Rogers] to sell the cars back to Polestar,” McCann explained.

McCann also said there was no chance of Volvo Car Australia backing GRM in 2017, or a dealer team being set-up.

“We could not participate without the support of our head office and our head office has indicated they won’t support it.

“There are too many elements of the car that are controlled by Polestar to enable that to work successfully.” McCann told motoring.com.au.

Volvo’s stance was confirmed by a statement from Cyan Racing (the Swedish contractor that supplies technology and engines to GRM on behalf of Polestar and Volvo) that it would sever ties at season’s end and wanted its engines and cars back.

motoring.com.au understands media reports a new deal between GRM and Volvo was basically done had reached Sweden ahead of McCann last week and triggered a high-level meeting to discuss the company’s ongoing involvement.

“As I said to you last week, I saw it as a sequence of steps that we had to follow and the first one -- deciding to go on with that sequence -- was one of the two most important ones and the other most important one was the final one,” McCann told motoring.com.au.

“I expected we would go through those steps, but the final step was pulled forward into a meeting which we didn’t have the opportunity to present the case [of] why we through we should continue.

“So the decision was made at a much higher level than we expected it to be. It’s a decision we now have to live with,” McCann explained.

“Our intention is to make the most of the rest of the 2016 season. We have a good package for this year and we continue to do our best with that and make the most of it from marketing and PR perspective,” he stated.

McCann, who also went to Sweden to watch Volvo’s V8 Supercar championship ace Scott McLaughlin make a guest appearance in the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship, said he was “deflated” by the decision.

“At the end of the day my business isn’t motorsport. My business is selling cars and taking care of customers and I have got to be focused on that.

“We saw motorsport as a great avenue for promoting our brand and I now have to divert my attention to other activities.”

Volvo announced its withdrawal from the newly renamed Virgin Australia Supercars Championship via a statement from its Polestar performance and motorsport division that in part read: “Our strategy and business objectives requires us now to focus our attention to other technologies and championships in the near future”.

Clearly that means the V8 engine (which hasn’t featured in a production car since 2010) wasn’t seen within Swedish headquarters as fitting with its environmentally-friendly production car image, which focuses on three and four-cylinder engines and an increasingly reliance on electrification.

motoring.com.au has reported previously the concerns within Volvo management about its Australian V8 program.

Global boss Hakan Samuelsson pre-empted this decision in January, while in December 2014 former marketing boss Alain Visser said motorsport didn’t fit with Volvo’s image. He was subsequently shifted to parent Geely.

Supercars shifts to new Gen2 technical regulations in 2017 which will allow engines other than V8s and bodies other than sedans. McCann held out the hope that could tempt Volvo to return to the championship in the future.

“Polestar, which has responsibility for motorsport within Volvo, has decided the formula doesn’t meet the technology messages they want to communicate through motorsport activity and they will sit out of it for now,” McCann said.

“But that doesn’t preclude them from coming back in should the rules change and enable us to use a new set of rules to showcase what we are doing technology-wise.

“I think the point about next year is we don’t have the technology for next year in a race engine. I think they are waiting for that time when the technology once again converges with the rules. But right now there is a divergence.”

The Wilson Security-backed Volvo team has had a great start to the 2016 season, McLaughlin sweeping the most recent championship round at Phillip Island to vault to second in the drivers’ points behind six-time champion Jamie Whincup. New team-mate James Moffat also had his best race of the year so far.

The championship continues this weekend in Perth, Western Australia, where McLaughlin broke through for the Volvo program’s first race win in the championship in 2014.

The ramifications of Volvo’s withdrawal could be dramatic. While GRM is most unlikely to depart the grid, the chances of emerging superstar McLaughlin staying with the team has taken a huge hit. He had already been widely tipped to DJR Team Penske in 2017.

Volvo’s withdrawal means only Holden and Nissan are considering extending their factory backing of the Supercars championship beyond this year. Both have indicated they want to go on, but have yet to commit.

The category is clearly struggling to hang on to manufacturers and brand diversity. Ford officially pulled out at the end of 2016, while Betty Klimenko’s privateer Erebus operation parked its Mercedes-AMG E63s at the end of last season and swapped to the ubiquitous Holden Commodore VF. It’s more than likely GRM will revert to running Commodores in 2017.

Supercars CEO James Warburton made the following statement in response to the announcement by Polestar.

“It is a disappointing decision by Polestar especially given the positive discussions being held locally about Volvo’s continued involvement in the series. However we understand that ultimately this was a global decision.

"We have really enjoyed the association with Volvo and the success they have enjoyed in Supercars. Garry Rogers Motorsport has indicated that it is committed to race Volvos in the 2016 and 2017 seasons and we will continue to have discussions with Volvo Car Australia about its ongoing involvement in the sport.”

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