Do we like them?

Do we like Volvo Cars?

Premium car maker, known for safety and electric and hybrid models. Based in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Our score: 5 out of 10. A respected safety brand that is struggling right now, with repeated job cuts and a rearview camera recall lawsuit. We'd hold off backing them until the turnaround shows results.

Volvo Cars is a Swedish carmaker owned by China's Geely. In March 2025 it brought back veteran boss Håkan Samuelsson as CEO, replacing Jim Rowan. Reuters-sourced reports say the change was reportedly pushed by Geely chair Eric Li.

Times have been tough. In May 2025 Volvo said it would cut about 3,000 jobs, after tariffs and slowing EV demand hit profits. That was part of a cost-cutting drive.

In October 2026 it announced around 2,500 more job cuts after a third-quarter operating loss. About 2,000 of those are in Sweden. The CEO called the quarter very disappointing.

There's a legal headache too. A proposed class action filed in New York in January 2026 accuses Volvo of failing to properly fix a rearview camera defect. The recall covered more than 413,000 vehicles, and Volvo has said it will fix them for free.

The big fines in our results, $130m from NHTSA and the roughly $197m California emissions settlement, were against Volvo Group (trucks), not Volvo Cars. We don't count them here. Overall we land at a middling 5.