Sanningen om Volvo

In the nearly forty years I have worked at Volvo, I have seen the company change under various types of leadership and under different ownership structures. *The Truth About Volvo* highlights three highly significant events in the company’s history, from a perspective that has never before been raised in the official discourse:

• The Renault deal in the 1990s, which marked the downfall of Volvo’s undisputed emperor, Pehr G. Gyllenhammar.

• The fateful sale of Volvo Personvagnar to Ford in 1999 and the union-led Jakob Consortium, which attempted to take over the entire company about a decade later.

• The incredible developments of the past decade with China’s Geely as the new owner and the extremely exciting yet challenging future of the automotive industry.

As union president and a member of the board of directors, I was close to the center of power and got to know Volvo from the inside. In this book, I want to emphasize the opportunities and the responsibility that ordinary workers have to influence their own working conditions and the kind of company they want to work for. The union struggle I led was rarely of a traditional nature, but rather challenged the conventional view of how union work should be conducted. I want to show how one can strive to move away from a reactive victim culture and instead adopt an active and curious attitude, with responsibility and confidence in the future as key principles.

The truth about Volvo takes you on a personal journey through Swedish industrial history, offers a unique glimpse into one of Sweden’s most important companies, and shows how union work can reach unprecedented heights thanks to courageous members and inspired leadership.

Magnus Sundemo, born in 1954, is the civil engineer who has been with Volvo for nearly forty years. He has held numerous positions at Volvo Cars, including designer, project manager, and line manager at various levels. Magnus was project manager for the much-discussed XC60 concept car and head of concept car development at Volvo Cars. He has also been deeply involved in the union and served as chairman of the Akademikerföreningen Volvo Cars, part-time from 1992 to 1994 and full-time from 2007 to 2016. Thanks to his twelve-year tenure on the Volvo Cars Board of Directors, Magnus has unique insights into what goes on behind the scenes.

Listen to more from Magnus on Spotify and his popular podcast Garaget. In it, he interviews interesting people with ties to Volvo Cars, from current CEO Håkan Samuelsson to the chair of the Gothenburg City Council, Ann-Sofie Hermansson.