Volvo chief looks to break even before new models come on line Volvo Cars is aiming to break even this and next year as the Swedish carmaker owned by China's Geely awaits a raft of new models in 2015. Håkan Samuelsson, chief executive, said that Volvo had "no ambition in the next two years to make a lot of money, just to stay in the black" as good growth in the China and US was balanced by continued weakness in its biggest market of Europe. He added of the break-even target: "I don't think it's defensive; it's quite challenging and realistic." His comments came as Volvo revealed it had scraped its way to an operating profit of SKr18m ($2.7m) in 2012 but only due to a one-off payment of SKr590m from Geely for the sale of some technology. Volvo was hit hard by the sharp downturn in Europe in the second half of last year with sales falling by 27,000 cars to 422,000 for the year. The Gothenburg-based group had to start an emergency SKr1bn cost-cutting programme after initially starting 2012 planning for an increase in sales. "Given the circumstances, we are satisfied with that result," said Mr Samuelsson, the former chief executive of truckmaker MAN who took over at Volvo in October. He conceded that it had only eked out a profit using a one-off but defended the move: "It is rather natural that we do that in a year when you need it." Still, operating profit was down 99 per cent from SKr2bn in 2011 while Volvo swung to losses of SKr915m and SKr480m at the pre-tax and net levels respectively. Mr Samuelsson said he expected the gloom to continue in Europe with car sales down 3-5 per cent, while those in China and the US should rise by 15 and 5 per cent. Volvo intended to be in line with all three markets, meaning group sales for 2013 were likely to be flat. In China - where it recently suffered a scandal in which its dealers had overstated and then understated sales in order to increase their bonuses - it has enjoyed a strong start to the year with sales growth of 30 per cent in April, following a 27 per cent rise in the first quarter. Volvo was bought by Geely in 2010 and is one of the most high-profile overseas purchases by a Chinese group. But the Swedish carmaker has struggled since then, hurt by weak markets and waiting for the launches of several crucial models at the end of 2014 and in 2015. Li Shufu, Geely's chairman, caused consternation in Sweden when he said Volvo's design was "too Scandinavian" only days after Mr Samuelsson said the company needed to emphasise its Scandinavian heritage more. Mr Samuelsson said: "I have talked to him about it. The Volvo brand is based on a Scandinavian design element. There is absolutely no disagreement on that on the board or with the owner. But he added that the saloon cars sold in China for the likes of chief executives needed to have a "design, especially in rear seats of those cars, [that is] very far from the design of a Scandinavian family car."