Nick Connor

VOLVO Car Australia managing director Nick Connor says the brand is using its Scandinavian heritage to differentiate the dealership sales and service experience at Volvo dealerships from its mostly German competitors.

In 2015, ahead of the launch of the crucial second-generation XC90 SUV, the Chinese-owned Swedish car-maker started to roll out its Volvo Retail Experience (VRE) concept.

VRE focused on the space and design of the dealership which reflected Scandinavian themes of clean lines and what it called “cool on the outside and warm on the inside”-style architecture.

It also used lots of glass so customers could see what was happening in the workshop, rather than sectioning it off behind walls.

Mr Connor said he was encouraging Volvo Car Australia’s dealer network to switch to the VRE concept, and added that many of them have already done so.

He said the style and overall feel from a customer perspective of the Volvo dealership concept contrasted with some of its competitors.

“If you go into one of dealers that has VRE, I think it’s so much warmer and more welcoming and a very Scandinavian feeling compared with the very black and white Germanic approach, which is minimalist. It is attractive, but I think the Swedish style is much more inviting, much more comfortable, it’s a bit cosier,” he told GoAutoNews Premium.

“I’m not obsessed with us building mausoleums to the auto trade. Because I don’t think customers want that.

“And actually, we don’t have a huge portfolio of cars, we don’t have 40 car lines. So, we have the advantage of not having to display 40 car lines. We can display six car lines and have everything we offer in one place in a fairly sensibly-sized showroom.

“So, for me, it is about having that uniquely Scandinavian experience. It’s got to be warm, it’s got to be welcoming. Genuinely somewhere where customers are happy to go.”

Mr Connor said that he has visited a number of dealerships in his career that he says are overwhelming and intimidatingly large and added that it is possible to create a premium customer experience in a smaller venue.

“Some people think ‘Well, I’m spending a lot of money, therefore I’m going somewhere that’s obviously very expensive’. And I get that.

“But I say, well actually, people go and buy a Gucci handbag, they don’t necessarily go into a huge store, they go to quite a small store but have a very premium experience, the same way that you would with a top-end jeweller or watch shop. It’s just a very nice welcoming, high-end experience. And I think that’s a differentiator for us.”

Mr Connor said he would ensure that Volvo’s Australian dealers remain sustainable.

“I’m genuinely not going to ask them to build showrooms that aren’t sustainable over the long term because that doesn’t do anyone any favours. And I think you get no thanks from the customer for it either.

“For me, having a smaller dealership in the right location, which is accessible to people, is more important than having something out of town that’s enormous.”

Mr Connor said that while Volvo sales were on the rise – up 44.2 per cent year-to-date compared to the same period in 2017 – there were no plans to significantly expand the dealer network beyond “a couple of open points”.

“Our dealers are capable of delivering more cars than they’re delivering today. They can manage greater throughput and I’d like to give them greater throughput so they become more profitable basically.”

However, he said there was however, some opportunity to increase the number of service outlets around Australia.

“The key point for me is that we have a big enough service and maintenance network. And I do like that sort of a hub-and-spoke approach where you’ve got a sales outlet, and you’ve got some service outlets around the area. So I think we need more service outlets than we need sales outlets.

“I think that’s an obvious opportunity for us. But I would see those sorts of opportunities being filled by the existing dealers as our car parc grows and, our service parc grows.

“The dealers can say ‘Well, you know, I’ve got a lot of my customers coming to me from an hour away or two hours away’. Let’s try to satisfy that with a local service outlet.”

At present, Volvo has 29 sales, parts and service dealerships in Australia and three service-only centres.

By Tim Nicholson