Ford taps new Volvo chief

Hans-Olov Olsson, a 34-year veteran with Swedish carmaker Volvo Car and recently president of its North American operations, is appointed president of the wholly owned Ford Motor Co. subsidiary, effective July 1. He succeeds Tuve Johannesson, named president in 1995, who now becomes vice chairman. The shuffle was engineered by Wolfgang Reitzle, head of Ford's Premier Automotive Group (PAG), who reportedly felt the need for a new direction at Volvo. It is unclear how long Mr. Johannesson will remain at the carmaker. The Swedish company, with sales of 400,000 units worldwide, is the biggest brand in PAG, which includes Lincoln, Jaguar, Aston-Martin and Land Rover. Mr. Olsson says that Volvo plans to increase worldwide sales to 600,000 annually by 2005. That's crucial for PAG to reach the 1 million sales target Mr. Reitzle has set for his group by 2005.