Volvo CEO: Pandemic Will Rapidly Accelerate Shift To Electric Cars
Volvo CEO Håkan Samuelsson said that the coronavirus will accelerate the pace of change in the auto industry. He said the shift to EVs will be among the major changes that occur due to the pandemic.
He believes that any government efforts to subsidize the auto industry’s recovery should be based on supporting EVs and other new technology.
Volvo plans to launch an all-electric car every year for the next five years. By 2025, Volvo wants all-electric vehicles to represent 50% of its global sales. Online sales with remote delivery and service would replace traditional auto dealership showrooms.
Read the article at Electrek.
VW, Ford Forge Ahead With Technology Sharing To Save Costs
With the global pandemic bringing the automotive industry to its knees, Volkswagen AG and Ford Motor Co. are keener than ever to move beyond an initial agreement to join forces and are pushing ahead with plans to team up on electric and self-driving vehicles.
Both sides recognize a need to share the large investments needed to develop battery-powered and autonomous cars. The industry is going to be forced to consolidate the number of powertrain types they choose to develop going forward.
Ford intends to produce at least one mass-market car in Europe based on VW’s main electric-vehicle underpinnings, dubbed MEB, with more than 600,000 targeted deliveries over six years. VW’s first car based on the new technology, the ID.3 hatchback, will be rolled out this summer. The SUV sibling called ID.4 is set to follow later this year.
Read the article at The Detroit News.
A Lesson in Culture From a Family Recipe
Culture develops and grows within walls, but strong cultures live with or without walls
By Laura Jozwiak, Senior Vice President of Sales & Client Relations, Wheels, Inc.
Have you heard the pot roast recipe fable? The story goes something like this:
A young boy and his mom decide to make their family’s pot roast, using a recipe that has been in the family for years. They start by cutting off the ends of the pot roast, and the boy asks his mom: “Why do you have to cut the ends off the meat?” She said, “I don’t know, it’s what the recipe says to do.”
They decide to call her mom to find out why you have to cut the ends off the piece of meat. Grandma also says that she didn’t know why, but that it’s part of the recipe. This family was fortunate enough to have her mother still alive, so they called great-grandma to ask why. And she told them, she cut the ends off the pot roast because she had a small roasting pan at the time—and it didn’t fit.
This is a story of culture. During these remote work times, you can see how critical a strong culture really is!
Facing The Challenges Of The Post-COVID-19 Landscape.
By recognizing the challenges confronting the world, internalizing the lessons of the pandemic, and deploying the tools and technologies at hand, we can chart a new, more adaptive course.
Both governments and businesses need to review how they responded to the pandemic, understand best practices, and prepare for the next inevitable crisis. It will be impossible for our systems to cope with the next challenge if they remain in the same fragile state in which they entered this one.
Although personal situations vary greatly, almost everyone can relate to the concerns of a rapidly developing problem. If this shared experience can engender greater solidarity and a sense of purpose, the prospect of adapting to a new world and thriving in it becomes more promising. Hope is not a strategy. But strategy can provide hope.
Read the article at strategy+business.
Here’s What The Future Of Work Will Look Like
The coronavirus has fundamentally changed every aspect of business - from our commute to our work environment to how we interact with our colleagues.
Research found 71% of employers are struggling to adjust to remote work, 65% say maintaining employee morale has been a challenge, and more than a third are facing difficulties with company culture.
Moving forward, companies are likely to be more accepting of employee requests to work from home. Some could even make entire operations remote once their office leases are up. Companies might have to redesign their workplace for a "6 Feet Office" with a security check-in that includes a body temperature reading. Companies may have stricter requirements for workwear to include personal protection equipment (PPE).
