Volvo denies reported dealer cuts

A couple days back we received word from Automotive News that Volvo was looking to downsize its dealer body by 30 percent in an effort to cut costs. The Swedish automaker says that isn't going to happen. PR VP Geno Effler said that while Volvo doesn't plan to cut almost a third of its 350 US dealers, it will try to persuade its struggling dealers to call it quits. The problem with Volvo's denial is that we'd heard about Volvo closing a significant amount of dealers way back in December, before the car market took it's most recent nose dive.
With Volvo sales down 14 percent for the year and constant talk about a Ford/Volvo split, we wouldn't be surprised if there are more than a handful of dealers in need of coercion. Not that the prodigious dip in sales volume has everything to do with dealers, either. Volvo's lineup isn't exactly fresh or fuel efficient, which spells disaster in this vehicle market.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]