Wireless Car Planning HQ Move to Irvine
By ANDREW SIMONS
WirelessCar Corp., a venture of LM Ericsson Telephone Co. and Volvo AB, plans to relocate its global headquarters from Sweden to Irvine.
The provider of telecommunications services for vehicles declined to comment directly on its plans, but Paul Drysch, WirelessCar’s North American business development manager, said word on a move is expected in the next couple of weeks.
WirelessCar’s North American arm already is based in Irvine, and the parent company’s move from Gothenburg, Sweden, to Orange County has been rumored.
Any such move would follow an expansion at WirelessCar’s Irvine office. In May, company officials announced a staff expansion here from 12 to 20 people. The company opened its Irvine-based North American headquarters a year earlier.
WirelessCar’s products and services include emergency and roadside vehicle assistance, navigation guidance, remote vehicle diagnostics and fleet-tracking management.
The move underscores OC’s growth as a center for automotive research and design.
“This place is centrally located to the wireless industry,” Drysch said. “And it’s close to the research and design centers of Mazda, Honda and Toyota.”
WirelessCar recently reshuffled its executive ranks. In November, the company named Alwin Bakkenes, director of product management in Europe, to be the European chief operation officer. That freed up WirelessCar Chief Executive Jan Hellaker to “focus on the company’s global and long-term growth,” according to a statement.
The company, which was formed by Ericsson, Volvo and Swedish telecommunications company Telia AB, also is rumored to be seeking $15 million to $20 million in financing by month’s end.
“We’ve had some people talking who probably shouldn’t have,” Drysch said. “We’ll address that soon.”
A funding round would be the company’s third.
