Volvo takes high road
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• Volvo Trucks is transferring its British sales, accounts and concessionaire administration from its Scottish headquarters to Warwick.
This follows last year's transfer of the parts and training departments to Warwick, but the company says it is making the move with regret and has no plans to move its assembly and engineering activities from Irvine.
Managing director Berra Brandtzaeg said last week that the new headquarters, to be built beside the parts and training centre, will open around the end of 1988, although temporary premises will be available from October this year.
"The decision. . . to relocate the remaining concessionaire activities to Warwick as soon as possible was taken after very careful consideration of the implications for employees and their families and after discarding measures of short-term convenience."
Brandtzaeg says the decision was taken after a survey showed the need to operate as closely as possible to its customers. "Our future plans are built on extending our customer activites further — targeting more customers and selling more trucks and buses.
"The overwhelming part of our market is centred around the Midlands. A Warwick base would bring us closer to 90% of our market," he said last week.
The transfer affects about 100 staff, who are being offered jobs at the new headquarters and will be given generous" relocation packages, according to Volvo.