Australasian Bus & Coach - April 2018

busnews.com.au April 2018 ABC^25

NO COUNTRY

FOR OLD MEN

WORDS FABIAN COTTER PHOTOS THOMAS WIELECKI

C

ONFIDENT footsteps resonate

crisply upon approach off

gleaming white floor tiles in

the Volvo Bus Australia office

at Chullora, Sydney.

It’s a nondescript Friday afternoon

in March, if not for a much-anticipated

meeting with the new GM for Volvo Bus

Australia, Lauren Downs.

Kiama, New South Wales, raised

since she was five years old, Downs is a

successful product of Volvo’s discerning

university scholarship system; though, her

10-year path to such a powerful position in

the region hasn’t been easy.

A bad thing? Not at all. It’s grafted her

into a battle-hardened ‘bussie’, ready

to steer the brand through the tough

Australasian market. Or so we would learn

as her staccato footsteps grow louder and

closer upon approach ...

ABC: Hello, Lauren. And

congratulations! So tell us, how does

it feel to be the general manager of

Volvo Bus Australia?

LD: Thank you! It feels fantastic and I am

excited for the journey ahead. I feel like

I’ve grown up in the industry and the

messages of support I have received from

within it when I was appointed have been

really humbling.

As a child or as a university student I

must confess I never thought I would work

in buses, but I was warned when I started

that once you enter the bus industry – you

stay! So maybe they were right [laughs].

And I think it also goes to show Volvo is a

fantastic company to work for; the Volvo

products, brand and values are things that I

believe in, so it’s ideal for me.

ABC: Can you give us a bit of the

background behind your career to

date. How did it all get started?

LD: Very briefly, I grew up in Kiama on the

NSW South Coast, but moved to Sydney

10 years ago. I studied a Bachelor of

Business/Marketing degree at Wollongong

University and that’s where I applied for

the Volvo scholarship and started my

Volvo Bus journey. After almost four years

with Volvo in Australia I was then lucky

enough to be granted the opportunity

to move to Sweden and work at the

Volvo Bus headquarters for two years in

the global product management and

marketing department. This was an

amazing experience and gave me a global

perspective of Bus. I was working really

closely with [the rest of] Europe during the

time of launching Euro 6, electromobility

and all the things that are now happening

here in Australia. I also worked with Volvo

Bus colleagues in the US, Latin America,

India and around the world.

Following that I then moved across to

Singapore to report to David Mead as part

of his management team for the Asia-

Pacific region for three years, taking on the

role as commercial development director,

which was everything from marketing

to new market entry and product

management for the region.

I then returned back here a year ago, as

it was obviously time to move home, where

I then took on the role of major accounts

manager. This was a newly created role

based on our awareness of our customers

and the industry changing – it was fantastic

to get that frontline experience. And then I

moved into this GM role, so that’s Volvo Bus

in a nutshell for me.

ABC: 2018, how do you see this first

year of your new role? What are your

ideas and plans? What do we as an

industry need to do, or where do we

need to be?

LD: The industry and our customers are

changing and evolving faster than ever

before. So whether it is in terms of their

management styles, or services and

products that they are delivering to their

communities and to their customers, the

changes that are happening are rapid. At

Volvo we are really trying to work harder

than ever to support that.

ABC: Does New Zealand also fall

under your responsibilities in the

Australasian region? Are there

different challenges there for the

company?

LD: Yes, New Zealand comes under the

Australasian region with Australia; I’ve

actually been responsible for the New

Zealand market for four years already

starting during my Singapore role, and it

will remain under me now.

New Zealand is definitely a unique

market compared to Australia – it has

very different weight and width

regulations, for example, so it is sometimes

hard for us to meet those regulations with

our standard products.

Volvo Bus has many reasons to celebrate in 2018, a year that, in

the least, marks its ‘90 Years of Innovation’. Now, it has another: a

homegrown Aussie general manager for the Australasian region – and

she has plenty to say about where the Swedish brand is headed.