Volvo Trucks UK & Ireland names new MD

Christian Coolsaet has been appointed MD of Volvo Trucks UK & Ireland.

He succeeds Robert Grozdanovski who will move to Gothenburg to take up an appointment as Volvo Trucks’ senior vice president for sales area Europe Central East & East.

Coolsaet brings more than 20 years of Volvo experience to the role, most recently from the German market and has been MD of Volvo Trucks Germany since 2015.

He will take up his new position in the UK on September 1 2020, where he will be based at the Warwick HQ.

Commenting on the move, Roger Alm, president of Volvo Trucks, said: “With his leadership and focus on building strong customer relationships, together with a solid Volvo background, Christian Coolsaet will be excellent in the role of leading Volvo Trucks in the UK & Ireland and continue building on the great work done by Robert Grozdanovski, to further develop our position in the UK market.”

Coolsaet joined the Volvo Group in 1997, initially with Volvo Buses and from 2002 with Volvo Trucks where he has held various senior management roles.

Before heading up Germany, he was MD for Volvo Trucks in Ukraine and later in Romania, commercial trucks director for Germany, Austria and Switzerland and MD for Volvo Trucks in South Africa.

“I am very excited to return to the UK," Coolsaet said. "In all those years I have always kept a soft spot for this market, and I am very much looking forward to working with the customers, retail network and my team. We have a very exciting autumn ahead of us with the launch of our new heavy duty truck range with four fantastic new trucks, which we are very much looking forward to presenting to customers in the UK & Ireland.”