Volvo appoints new R&D president He Ruian, promoted four times in three years

According to foreign media reports, Volvo recently appointed Henrik Green as the company's new president of research and development, replacing Peter Mertens, who was poached by Audi last month. This promotion is Henrik Green's fourth promotion in three years.

Audi's former technical development director Stefan Knirsch was suspended in September due to his involvement in the Volkswagen Group's exhaust emissions scandal, and the position has been vacant since then. At the end of last month, Audi poached Volvo's senior vice president of global research and development Peter Mertens as its technical development director. Peter Mertens served as its senior vice president of global research and development during his tenure at Volvo, and was also in charge of procurement, quality, supplier quality and other businesses.

The 43-year-old has been with Volvo for 20 years. Peter Mertens' departure gives him the opportunity to take charge of Volvo's global R&D team of more than 6,500 employees, which has played an important role in Volvo's three consecutive global sales records.

In recent years, Volvo has made great strides in the fields of in-car air quality, autonomous driving and intelligent networking, and is in a leading position in the world. Electric vehicles are the future development direction and development focus of Volvo. Volvo needs He Ruian and his team to develop plug-in hybrid power systems and put its fully autonomous vehicles on the road in 2021. He Ruian said that he will push Volvo to the next level and ensure that Volvo can lead the industry change.

In October, Henri Hernandez was appointed as Volvo's senior vice president of sales, production planning and customer service. This position is a new position, and a Volvo spokesperson said that someone will take over the position in the future. Prior to this, Henri Hernandez served as Volvo's vice president of product strategy and production line management. Henri Hernandez has extensive experience in research and development, power system development and other advanced fields. He is also one of the important roles that influenced Volvo's decision to use only four-cylinder and three-cylinder engines. This move was later imitated by many other car companies.

He Ruian is the second executive of Volvo Cars under the age of 45. On December 1, Volvo Cars announced the appointment of Atif Rafiq as its first Chief Digital Officer, 43 years old. Rafiq started to serve as McDonald's Chief Digital Officer in 2013, helping McDonald's build McDonald's digital operation system from scratch.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.