4th Richest Man in World drives what? 15 year old Volvo! Hoorah!

Discussion in 'General Motoring' started by Jamie, Mar 26, 2006.

  1. Jamie

    Jamie Guest

    Quote: "She is nearly new, just 15 years old, or something like that."
    -- Ingvar Kamprad

    http://today.reuters.com/news/newsa...61_RTRUKOC_0_US-SWISS-IKEA-KAMPRAD.xml&rpc=23

    GENEVA (Reuters) - IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad, ranked 4th richest man
    in the world, drives a 15-year-old car and always flies economy class,
    in part to inspire his 90,000 employees worldwide to see the virtue of
    frugality.

    The billionaire Swede, who turns 80 on March 30, explained his
    legendary habits during a rare television interview in Switzerland, his
    adoptive home for nearly 30 years.

    His fortune was recently estimated at $28 billion by Forbes magazine --
    trailing only Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, U.S. investor Warren
    Buffett and Mexican industrialist Carlos Slim.

    "People say I am cheap and I don't mind if they do. But I am very proud
    to follow the rules of our company," Kamprad told French-language Swiss
    Broadcasting Corporation.

    Asked to confirm he drove an old Volvo, he said: "She is nearly new,
    just 15 years old, or something like that."

    Interviewer Darius Rochebin teased that Ikea employees were always told
    to write on both sides of the paper.

    "Why not? If there is such a thing as good leadership, it is to give a
    good example. I have to do so for all the Ikea employees," Kamprad
    retorted.

    "Everything we earn we need as a reserve. We have to still develop the
    IKEA group. We need many billions of Swiss francs (dollars) to take on
    China or Russia," he added.

    Ikea is the world's biggest furniture retailer, with 202 stores in 32
    countries.

    Known for its inexpensive self-assembly furniture, the family-owned
    business claims its hefty catalog is the most widely read publication
    after the Bible.

    After flirting with neo-Nazism after World War Two -- for which he has
    apologized -- the small-town Swede set up shop in his garden shed,
    selling watches, pens and Christmas cards.

    "I bought seeds for the garden and had great success with it, going
    around to all the houses in my village. After that year I could buy
    myself my first bicycle," Kamprad recalled.

    When Sweden's Social Democrat government launched the "Million Homes
    Project" in the 1950s, he saw an opportunity and got into the furniture
    business.

    He stumbled upon the "flat-pack" idea in 1956 when an employee took the
    legs off a table to fit it into a customer's car. It saves a fortune in
    transport, storage and sales space.

    "Our idea is to serve everybody, including people with little money. We
    have to keep costs down," he said.

    His home in the Swiss village of Epalinges near Lausanne above scenic
    Lake Geneva is mainly decorated with Ikea furniture, apart from a few
    family pieces.

    In keeping with Swedish tradition, Kamprad said he prepares and brings
    glogg, or hot wine, to "good neighbors" at Christmas along with his
    three sons.

    Last week he made a donation of 500,000 swiss francs ($379,900) to the
    Lausanne cantonal art school, where his son studied.

    "I'm not afraid of turning 80 and I have lots of things to do. I don't
    have time for dying," Kamprad said.

    ($1=1.316 Swiss Franc)
     
    Jamie, Mar 26, 2006
    #1
  2. I saw that story this am...great plug for older
    volvos...heck, his is just gettin' broken in....

    cheers......richard / colorado
    1993 940t - 250,000 miles....
    2001 s80t6 - 145,000 miles...

    owned 4 others in the past years.....
     
    ~^ beancounter ~^, Mar 26, 2006
    #2
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