Volvo Cars said on Wednesday that Thomas Ingenlath, Polestar’s former CEO, will be returning to the carmaker as Chief Design Officer from the first day of February.
The executive succeeds Jeremy Offer, who resigned the role in July 2025 after spending two years in the role.
The recently appointed chief executive Håkan Samuelsson affirmed in a statement that Ingenlath will strengthen the company’s “design leadership with his proven experience and vision, ensuring we continue to design cars that reflect our values and resonate with customers around the world.”
Ingenlath‘s Career
Ingenlath started his career in 1999 at Volkswagen’s brand Skoda, where he stayed until 2005. Afterwards, the designer moved to the Volkswagen core brand for the next five years.
Between 2012 and 2017, Ingenlath served as Senior Vice President Design at Volvo Cars before being named CEO of Volvo‘s EV brand Polestar.
However, he left in October 2024, as the premium brand failed to gain traction in the highly competitive EV market.
Six months ago, in July 2025, the executive rejoined the Chinese Geely Holding Group in a senior design advisory role.
He now returns to Volvo nine years after leaving the premium brand.
Volvo Sales
Volvo said earlier on Wednesday that it sold 75,049 vehicles globally in December, up 2% from 73,804 units recorded a year ago.
However, when looking at the full 2025 year, the China-backed automaker registered 710,042 globally, representing a 7% year-on-year decrease.
December marked the strongest month of fully electric vehicles since June 2024 for the automaker.
However, the 2025 total fell by 13% to 151,830 units. Meanwhile, sales of plug-in hybrid models edged lower by 3% to 171,464 units.
In China, the world’s largest EV market, the brand continued to struggle in securing demand.
Throughout 2025, Volvo sold 2,342 fully electric vehicles — nearly halving from the 4,349 recorded in 2024.
New energy vehicle sales — named by Volvo as electrified models — decreased by 8% in 2025 to 323,924 vehicles.
