In a recent announcement, Volvo Cars North America will be moving back to Rockleigh, NJ and out of the Irvine, CA Premier Auto Group office it once shared with Jaguar , Land Rover , Aston Martin and even Lincoln . Less than 80 employees are affected by the move, and Volvo already has a customer support center in NJ.
Ford ’s Premier Automotive Group is quickly dissolving, with last year’s sale of Aston and the transfer of Jaguar and Land Rover looming. Mazda , also under Ford’s umbrella, remains in the Irvine building.
“We have evaluated the situation in the U.S. market and decided to consolidate our headquarters operations in one location,†said Volvo ’s Gerry Keaney, senior vice president of Marketing, Sales & Service.
At the same time, Volvo announced the installment of Doug Speck as the new CEO for North America. Speck takes the place of Anne Belec, who moves to Dearborn, MI to become Ford ’s director of global marketing.
Volvo is one of Ford’s few money-makers, despite the fact all its cars are built in Europe. The cross country move should save the automaker more money, as well as decreasing the time difference between Europe and the North American headquarters.
Ford is offering a less generous package to the affected employees to move from California to New Jersey as it did when the opposite was true, perhaps due to the Golden State’s high cost of living.
