Volvo is reducing its attendance at lavish trade fairs and will just participate at three main auto shows a year. The company, which has been under the ownership of China's Geely beginning in 2010, will take part in a motor show at Geneva in Europe, Detroit in the U.S. and Beijing or Shanghai in China.
The Swedish manufacturer insists that the decision to pull out of the auto shows which include the ones held in Los Angeles, New York, Frankfurt and Paris is not meant to cut costs. The carmaker wants to increase its marketing budget by focusing more on dealerships, annual promotional event and e-commerce. Likewise, it assures its 2,000 global dealerships that the company is not cutting out the traditional dealers.
"We have been doing what is expected in the car industry so far, and we're going to do things that are unexpected," said Alain Visser, Volvo's head of marketing and sales. "We don't see a car distribution network without dealers in the foreseeable future."
Volvo managed to increase its 2014 sales target in August when it launched a redesigned XC90 crossover. It is the first vehicle that was manufactured under the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group ownership.
Apart from reducing its auto show attendance, the company also plans to wind down a number of its sponsoring ventures which include golf and motor racing. It's the company's own way of deviating from the industry's traditional marketing which, for several years, has been characterized by trade shows, sports sponsorship and 30-second TV commercials.
"We're still a relatively small player in the global market...We're not going to win by doing the same as others do," added Visser. "We believe that for Volvo there are better ways to communicate our product and our brands than going to motor shows."
Volvo and its regional counterparts attend around 100 local and international motor shows every year. It includes the seven global jamborees which are centrally funded by the Swedish operating unit.
Beginning next year, Volvo will focus its extra resources on an annual event which shall solely feature a Volvo product.
"Instead of having a 20-minute press conference in the middle of 50 other manufacturers, we're going to have our day, our time, our message," said Visser.
More and more buyers are using the Internet to research and even purchase cars. The company said that it had successfully sold out 1,927 limited editions of its latest XC90 SUV within 47 hours purely online.
Volvo hopes to increase last year's sales of around 430,000 to 800,000 by 2020.
