News: Volvo ending production of C30 in December

British_Rover

British_Rover

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What I figured would happen for a while was official announced today.

The last C30 orders have been placed and all production will cease by December.

So if you really want that custom C30 you better tell someone now, all five of you anyway, we can only amend ordered cars for another couple of weeks.
 
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So basically nobody aside from Twilight fans bought it and there weren't enough of those to keep the line going. :p
 
I like the C30. It's like an A3 for people who aren't utter wankers.
 
MWF said:
I like the C30. It's like an A3 for people who aren't utter wankers.
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Apparently nobody else (excepting Twilight fans) liked it. At least not enough to actually buy one.
 
Yup.

"I like {car}!"
"Okay, do you like it enough to buy one?"
"Well, no..."
"Then what good are you?"

:p

Also, car companies would want to do better than FaceStalkerBook's lack of monetization of likes. :p
 
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If I were in that market at that price it would be on my list. It still may be as a used buy. I'd pick one over a Golf/A3/Focus etc etc etc. Even the equivalent Alfa is too ugly if I were avoiding mainstream. Chances are the Seat Leon TDi FR would still win the day but I reckon the Lolvo would run it a close second as is has a much nicer interior but their diesels aren't tuned for performance like the Spaniard.
 
My car buying doesn't help any manufacturer. I could drop a lotto jackpot but I still wouldn't be dumb enough to buy a brand new car. Less inclined in fact as premium stuff depreciates far quicker.

:tease:
 
Spectre said:
So basically nobody aside from Twilight fans bought it and there weren't enough of those to keep the line going. :p
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Well it is not that negative but yes sales were not great.

I have a hard copy of the bulletin in front of me but no PDF to print as my password is acting up for VRC2(Volvo's internal dealers site)

Here is what the bulletin says.

After 6 successful model years, and sales of over 26,000 units in North America, the C30 will end production in December 2012. The C30 successfully achieved its goal to attract new customers to the Volvo brand, pulling a high percentage of customers from brands like Mini, Mazda and Volkswagen. (They cite a strategic vision study from 2008 and in my experience you did get people from those brands who would not have previously considered a Volvo to at least look at a C30)


This is a necessary step under our new business strategy and as part of our ongoing efforts to transition both financial and human resources to the development of high volume products to better sustain our brand health and network viability moving forward.

The last of the C30 production orders have been placed with the factory, the ability to modify these orders will start to close over the next several weeks. Please contact your Market Manager for any questions about this final production allocation including information about the C30 Polestar Limited edition previously communicated under separate cover.
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Translation.

The C30s are not profitable because we cannot build them cheap enough to sell in the volumes necessary to continue production.



They were barely selling 4,000 units a year in the North America and without the S40/V50 to spread out costs for North American distribution the C30 made no sense anymore.


The C30 could have been a good niche product for Volvo but it was marketed all wrong and priced badly. The pricing problem was partially explained by content, there needed to be a lower horsepower version of the C30, and partially by geography, Sweden is an expensive place to build cars.

There was never going to be a $16,000 C30 built in Sweden under any circumstances but they could have marketed a sub $20,000 car to build volume and help spread cost. Build a C30 with no turbo and a five speed manual instead of a Six speed for starters. Instead we only ever got the 227 hp T5 model here that was too expensive and got relatively poor gas mileage for its class.
 
A friend at work has a C30, lowered and with massive camber (yo).

No I don't really understand either, but I've always regarded the C30 as 'not bad for a Volvo'. Clearly it wasn't good enough.
 
Matt2000 said:
A friend at work has a C30, lowered and with massive camber (yo).

No I don't really understand either, but I've always regarded the C30 as 'not bad for a Volvo'. Clearly it wasn't good enough.
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Its actually a pretty good car...until you look at its price tag. We had the 24i version, the non-turbo one, and even that was hideously expensive at $27K...if anybody bought one the T5 was a better buy at $29K because at least that was fast.
 
Yeah, as much as I like Volvos, I never really seriously thought about buying a C30. So to sum up:

1. Parents didn't buy it for their teenage kids because it cost too much. Why spent $25k+ on a hatchback when you can get them a cheap Focus or a GM crapbox. They wouldn't care...
2. Enthusiasts (like me) didn't buy it because they would rather go for a S60/S40 - a proper sedan. Also, most enthusiasts don't buy brand new cars.
3. Middle class business would buy the XC60, S60, S80...but why would they buy a crummy hatchback?

It was a niche product, that was never marketed properly. The fact that it was offered with a 6 speed manual should have been advertised more.
 
I just met someone in my class who drives a manual C30. She defined herself as a "car girl" so I think the conclusion here is that C30 buyers can very well be style-conscious young buyers, even though the car is not exactly sporty. That said, I disagree with you, HV, in that I think the C30 is more appealing to an enthusiast than a Volvo sedan. Then again, who am I kidding, an enthusiast would, as sales show, look elsewhere altogether.
 
Move along people. Nothing to see here.
 
I should have clarified - I meant Volvo enthusiasts. Guys who became fans with the 240, 740 etc...in other words - older, boring people :)

(on a sort of related note - I have been watching the Volvo community for quite a while now. 3-4 years ago, 850 Turbos and R's were all the rage. Everyone wanted one and modified it. Then, 2 years ago S70/V70 T5M's became the thing to get and everyone bought one. In the last year, people have finally started moving into S60R's and just S60 T5's in general. So, in a few years there might be a boom in demand for used C30's....not that this is helping Volvo, but anyways :) )
 
_HighVoltage_ said:
(on a sort of related note - I have been watching the Volvo community for quite a while now. 3-4 years ago, 850 Turbos and R's were all the rage. Everyone wanted one and modified it. Then, 2 years ago S70/V70 T5M's became the thing to get and everyone bought one. In the last year, people have finally started moving into S60R's and just S60 T5's in general. So, in a few years there might be a boom in demand for used C30's....not that this is helping Volvo, but anyways :) )
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Yeah, the enthusiast community really isn't the place to look to if you want to gauge the health of a carmaker. There's still a healthy Saab enthusiast community. A healthy Saab, not so much.
 
True. Can we have these now?

8005320677_4f0d664c14_h.jpg


Please?

Pretty please?
 
I quite liked the C30. Didn't see many of them though. I tried to convince my mum to buy one instead of her S40. She didn't go for it though.
 
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