This initiative of Social security system for Volvo cars was recorded for France where Volvo is not very popular. Indeed, according to a report by the Committee of French Automobile Manufacturers (ccfa.fr 2010)21, less than 12 000 Volvo cars have been sold in 2009 (versus more than 1 million of French cars with a majority of cars sold from PSA Peugeot Citroën and Renault). This shows a preference to buy French from French people, and it also shows that Volvo is not very popular. One of the main reasons might be because it is not famous enough and therefore, Volvo might need to advertise more in France. This might also be due to the price: indeed, Volvo Cars are in average more expensive than Renault or Peugeot - certainly due to the fact that Volvo Cars also are better quality. In order to increase its popularity, Volvo organizes events in France such as The Viking Classic Auto Show (Autodeclics.com)22 (which emphasizes the fact that Volvo is Swedish, because nowadays, in France, Scandinavia is becoming more and trendier and Sweden is trusted for the reliability and the quality of its products). Volvo also has advertised their C30 in the end of 2009 targeting a young and/or middle age urban and independent customer (Dailymotion.com 2010)15. Moreover, on Volvo Cars French website it is now possible to see the new commercial for the C70 which shows that Volvo does not forget women (Volvocars.com 2010)23 emphasizing again on the independence of Volvo owners: their right to change their mind and/or their life if they want to. This aspect of not forgetting women in their marketing strategy was also present for the S60 with the possibility to buy nail polish assorted to the car‟s color (Autodeclics.com 2010)24.
We will come back on the aspects of Volvo Cars‟ marketing policy in both France and Sweden in our analysis. Thus, after having studied the results from our empirical study, we will be able to make a more in-depth comparison in order to understand Volvo Cars‟ marketing strategy in both countries-focusing on the similarities and the differences and also understand how Volvo Cars‟ positioning is perceived by potential clients. How impacted they are by Volvo Cars‟ marketing strategy and how Volvo Cars has (or not) managed to adapt to each market‟s specific cultural features and to the expectations of the potential customers in both countries.