Australasian Bus & Coach - April 2018

(Dana P.) #1
busnews.com.au April 2018 ABC^25

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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.
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