PaddlerEd
People question the need for Volvo to sponsor the Ocean Race, Volvo Penta is one of the dominant marine engine suppliers worldwide, so it fits in perfectly... and in the UK there was a big tradition of supporting the Lifeboat association (Dad used to point out that the boaties had enough money to own a boat and get into the mess, so they could afford to give a bit to the RNLI)
With touring (and V8 supercars) cars, mountain biking, golf and junior sailing (in the UK) and anything else that they support there is still a bit of collaboration between Volvo Car and AB Volvo (Volvo truck, Volvo Construction and Volvo Penta) as can be seen by Volvo Trucks sponsoring the V8 Supercar. At times there were contradictory ones between global Volvo (I'm thinking Volvo Cannondale Mountain bike team) and local Volvo (Volvo Spain sponsored a guy who rode for the Spanish Kona team IIRC)
So where is this rambling post going? Volvo will have a plan for where they see the brand going, until there is an appropriate series for the 4 cylinder new engines they will probably withdraw. The sponsorship and involvement has traditionally been targeted towards the type of buyer Volvo would like to have, hence the sponsorship of PGA Golf and youth sailing in the UK, and the mountain biking in the 1990's which coincided with the launch of the 850 Cross Country and AWD.
AshDVS
Alain Visser isn't an idiot and has enjoyed success (in his role) with previous companies.
While Volvo Australia believe that their V8SC programme with GRM has been positive for the brand and say that it has generated sales, the Australian new car buying market is tiny as far as sales are concerned. Add to that, we are spoiled for choice and have more brand and model variation than the US or Japan (probably many other places too. CBF doing any googling). In the scheme of things, Visser probably doesnt care too much about Volvo Australia sales or what drives them.
His role is to spend wherever he believes will best improve sales and focus on the demographic that he sees the brand appeal to.
I personally see it is disappointing, but Volvo themselves have a history of this approach to motorsport.
At the moment, in Australia, we have an unemployment figure steadily heading in the wrong direction - national unemployment numbers have just surpassed the GFC levels, the motorsport category that Volvo is actively involved in is going through a state of uncertainty, several big $ deals that were touted to be coming next year with previous full time drivers back on the grid have fallen over in the 11th hour and those drivers are destined for enduro gigs for 2015 (not that I'd knock one back!), a new TV split between free-to-air and pay tv starts next year making it tough to get a feel for the value of the advertising dollar, Ford Australia have announced they will no longer be involved after next year, FPR will soon be rebranded as ProDrive Racing Australia and the blueprint for the Gen2 car has been announced.
The category currently uses archaic methods to ensure aero-parity - they use coast-down tests, conducted out in the open. Describing the testing environment and conditions as 'controlled' is a massive stretch. How will they be able to measure, let alone enforce, engine parity?
In the very early 90s the second tier NASCAR series (currently called the Nationwide series, naming rights are changing for 2015, but was called the Busch Grand National series back then) ran V6 engines for 2 (maybe 3 seasons). It failed from a spectator and fan point of view. NASCAR and V8SC are more similar than our V8SC loving fans really like to admit.
Anyway, ignoring Visser's global view for a moment, manufacturers treading lightly in our domestic top-tier of motorsport is pretty understandable. Perhaps there are better places for an advertising dollar to be distributed?