Volvo launches online car sales service

02 May 2019

Volvo Car UK has launched a new online sales service designed to operate end-to-end, from vehicle specs to final purchasing agreements.

The online portal will offer full vehicle configuration across Volvo’s entire range. However, as of now, the XC40 SUV is the only fully complete offering, with more models to be added later this week.

″It allows users to see the impact of options on the total cost of ownership″

The selling point of the service, according to Volvo, is that it allows users to see the impact of options on the total cost of ownership (TCO), specifying a monthly cost during the vehicle customisation process. The whole experience is designed to be completed online, with even signing being done by e-signature, and the carmaker boasts that, end-to-end, the process could take as little as 20 minutes.

Jon Wakefield, Volvo Car UK Managing Director, said: ′Whether online or offline, the way people buy cars has changed. Customers now have much more control over the process, and Volvo Online helps them to take that one step further.’

Place and time

Tesla moved to exclusively online sales earlier this year. Though the decision may have been made in part for financial reasons, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said: ′It’s 2019, people just want to buy things online.’

′It’s 2019, people just want to buy things online.’

Volkswagen also moved to expand its online presence late last year, offering five new sales and service formats and implementing customer IDs to blend dealerships and online sales.

′We have adopted this approach because our business environment is changing at a breath-taking pace given new technologies, changed customer expectations and new market players,’ said JÜrgen Stackmann, Board Member for Sales of the Volkswagen brand.