‘Care by Volvo’ strives to makes car ownership as easy as having a mobile phone

Volvo Cars is inventing a new model of having access to a car with the launch of the new Volvo XC40 and the new ‘Care by Volvo’ subscription service. This will make having a car as transparent, easy and hassle-free as having a mobile phone: a national, ready-negotiated monthly fee, combined with getting a new car every 24 months.

After ordering their car online, Care by Volvo customers will be able to drive away in a new Volvo without having to worry about traditional extras such as deposits, insurance, taxes, service fees and geographical- or customer age-related differences. A flat monthly subscription fee will be their only expense.

In addition to making driving a new Volvo that much simpler, Care by Volvo will, depending on regional availability, offer a range of digital concierge services, such as fuelling, cleaning, service pick-up and e-commerce delivery to the car.

A new car sharing feature which is part of Care by Volvo as standard, will allow new Care by Volvo XC40 drivers to share their car with friends and family with new digital key technology.

Håkan Samuelsson, President and CEO, says: “With Care by Volvo, we introduce new car accessibility for the modern age. In a time where consumers are used to transparent flat-fees for all sorts of services, the traditional process of buying and owning a car can be perceived to be rather complicated. Care by Volvo changes all of that.”

The new XC40, launched simultaneously in Milan, will be the first Volvo model with which Care by Volvo will be available. Other Volvo models will be included over time, as will new digital concierge services.

Care by Volvo is a concept that will develop and expand over time. The central focus is on offering customers convenient access to the sense of freedom a car is meant to deliver.

“Our aim with Care by Volvo is to provide our customers with a transparent, premium car user experience. With a fixed monthly payment, Volvo Cars provides a truly customer-focused alternative to the traditional purchase or leasing. Time is a luxury for our customers, and with this service we are able to free up time in their daily lives. This is simply making life easier for our customers,” says Thomas Andersson, Vice President Care by Volvo at Volvo Cars.

Earlier in September, Volvo announced the acquisition of the technology platform and key staff of Luxe, a US-based premium valet and concierge service company. This acquisition is another example of Volvo’s ongoing development in the area of digital consumer experiences.

Care by Volvo will first be available for buyers of the new Volvo XC40 in Sweden, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Italy, Norway, Poland and the United States. Other markets will follow at a later stage.

In South Africa, the Care by Volvo business model and related services are under scrutiny for local introduction.

Note to editors – premium subscription versus leasing:

• Care by Volvo is a new premium subscription service and differs from existing lease offers in a number of important ways.
• Care by Volvo offers a convenient package of services allowing customers to enjoy their car whilst Volvo Cars handles everything else.
• Private leasing is an entry level offer without any additional services included in the price, while even full service leasing covers only parts of the services available in Care by Volvo. For example, none of the digital services to be offered via Care by Volvo are currently part of existing leasing packages.
• Care by Volvo will also encompass flexibility and customers will be allowed to switch cars temporarily depending on their needs (market-specific).
• Care by Volvo also removes the practice of price negotiations. Customer research shows that this is one of the elements of the car-buying process that customers dislike the most.
• Care by Volvo has no customer geographical- or age-related price differences.

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