I do agree that Volvo dealers should step up in what concerns customer relations, product knowledge and facilities. Point touched !


Volvo 2015.5 XC60 T5 Polestar | 2018 XC90 T6 Inscription

 

It is to me exactly what I chose to buy, coming from me, retired Navy average Joe and coming from Nissan.... I would say so. I have a 2011.5 xc60 and a 2018xc60

 

Fully agree with original posting. The product is a great one, however everything else needs improvement. If I ever do wander off to another brand for my next vehicle it would be due to the service aspect (or non existence of it).

 

I think some of their products are in the luxury segment, but I would agree the dealers I have seen do not have the facilities to compare to the bmw.lexus,audi, merc brands.Havent taken mine in for service yet, so cant comment on that. We bought a CPO car in Virginia and felt like I was in a Toyota or Hyundai dealership.

 

No experience to speak of, since I came to Volvo from 15 years of Hondas, but I got a much better vibe from both my local dealership and Volvo as a company than I've ever experienced before. I admit that my local Lexus dealer (and I almost bought one before discovering the XC60) has a higher end place and probably better customer amenities. But they sell a lot more cars per year than Volvo, so that's probably the reason.

 

As far as "Luxury", all relative I guess. I don't think one could successfully argue it's close to Mercedes or Lexus, or Porsche, but I think it's comparable to Audi and BMW.

Agreed on facilities. To be fair, my dealer is remodeling so it should be a little nicer when done.

My pet peeve is the loaners I get are always 1-2 steps below the car I am getting serviced - and this goes for the times I had Audis and a Jaguars too, so not unique to Volvo.

 

As far as "Luxury", all relative I guess. I don't think one could successfully argue it's close to Mercedes or Lexus, or Porsche, but I think it's comparable to Audi and BMW.

Agreed on facilities. To be fair, my dealer is remodeling so it should be a little nicer when done.

My pet peeve is the loaners I get are always 1-2 steps below the car I am getting serviced - and this goes for the times I had Audis and a Jaguars too, so not unique to Volvo.

My Volvo and Audi dealer are right down the street from each other. With that being said, I've never been to an Audi dealership that wasn't modern and cutting edge looking. Comparing my Volvo dealership to the Audi one makes the Volvo dealer look like crap. There are a few nice Volvo dealers scattered throughout the US however. In terms of service though both dealerships are awesome and fair. I love my salesman at Volvo, he got me a huge discount on my MY19 XC90 in August which was the exact car I wanted. We took it for a test drive when, it only had 20 miles, bought it and couldn't be happier.

 

I think some of their products are in the luxury segment, but I would agree the dealers I have seen do not have the facilities to compare to the bmw.lexus,audi, merc brands.Havent taken mine in for service yet, so cant comment on that. We bought a CPO car in Virginia and felt like I was in a Toyota or Hyundai dealership.

 

If I could sign paperwork by a show room at a shopping mall, it would be much better experience.

And have them pick up/drop off my car for service.

That would be appropriate service for luxury car.

The car is very good and at luxury level, and still understated overall.

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I'd call it an entry level luxury car that has aspirations of being a mainstream luxury car. Over time the stores will most likely be refurbished and renovated so the real estate will be much nicer - the customer experience will need to change as well depending on the store.

 

I wouldn't say entry level, especially since a maxed out XC60 is still around 10-15k more than a Q5 or X3... Acura is an entry level luxury car.

 

I think the current generations of cars are as close as Volvo has ever been to the established lux brands. But agreed dealerships need to step up their game. The two local ones to me are owned by the same parent company and have much to be desired in the sales dept. We take our car to the service dept but have passed them by twice when buying- even when the dealership is less than a 10 minute walk from our house! The sales guy was downright rude, guaranteeing no sale for him.
But the dealership we ended up buying from was 4 hours from us. The dealership was part of a group that sold Volvo, Porsche, Jaguar and Land Rover. So they certainly had a bette idea of what customer service was.
So in short, I think it comes down to the dealership. Volvo could up their requirements of the dealers, but I guess that takes time.

 

The Maryland dealerships are trash. I ended up driving an hour to manassas, va for service. Way better. Check out Don Beyer Volvo if you are ok with the distance.

But yea, overall the Volvo brick and mortar needs some overhaul in general.


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The Maryland dealerships are trash. I ended up driving an hour to manassas, va for service. Way better. Check out Don Beyer Volvo if you are ok with the distance.

But yea, overall the Volvo brick and mortar needs some overhaul in general.

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I dont mind distance......Was in email contact with them for a car, but their pricing was way high!!

Glad to hear Im not the only 1 that feels the same about the actual dealerships!!

 

The main thing holding Volvo back from being a true luxury brand is the inconsistent dealer network in the US.

 

Geely put a lot of $$ into the vehicles. I wonder how they can use clout and $$ to help dealers up their showrooms.

 

The challenge is to find a dealer where the location, building/showroom, salesperson knowledge/attitude, strong service department and fair and competitive pricing is correctly balanced. After reading owner experiences in this forum, I consider myself extremely lucky to have a dealership within reasonable distance that I feel has managed to find the right balance. Bought my 2012 R-Design there as well as my 2018 T6 Inscription this past summer. One of the strongest customer service mentalities - from management down thru service and administrative staff - I've experienced in my 43 years of purchasing new vehicles.

There are too many Volvo dealers that don't get it and figure they will skate by on the reputation of the brand. I know the dealer actually closest to me hasn't figured it out and I believe their sales numbers bear that out.

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Sitting here on a rainy day, killing some time and waiting for the arrival of my 2019 XC60 T6 Inscription....Was to be this Saturday Dec 22, but now pushed to sometime in early January. This post has no mean intentions, but do you consider Volvo a Luxury car/company,and I include right from stepping into the dealership to the actual car??

I have been to 3 dealers in the Maryland area,and all were not in a nice location or building, 1 actually shared the small show room with Hyundai. Waiting areas were not nice as well,very small and def not upscale at all

Salesman: Many are clueless on the product they are selling..well maybe not clueless but their knowledge was lacking

Car itself: Yes I would consider the XC60 on the luxury side of things, but other than that,nothing really exciting.

Does it matter? Prob not, but when 1 is spending around $60,000 usd,maybe there should be a few perks,lol

While not to say " upscale luxury"....But

1. The local dealer has apples, bananas, cookies, and bottle waters out for customers. And a TV to watch in the waiting room.

2. While my preferred dealer has a variety of snacks, coffee machine, waters and television to watch. Unlike dealer #1, they'll toss you into a loaner while your cars being worked upon. Seems they retired out their older lineup. I got a 2016 or 2017 V60 AWD my last trip. Really loved the vehicle.

Because all dealers (Volvo, BMW, Mercedes, Hyundai, Ford, etc) are franchised, you're experience at "Bob's Volvo" won't be the same as "Tom's Volvo". Would be nice though if Corporate put a mandate where the dealer waiting room had to meet a certain standard.

 

The thing is those franchises with more money are all selling Porsche, MB, Audi, BMW, and they don't have more room for Volvo.

Chain franchise like AutoNation spend more money on those buildings but not Volvo.

Volvo should open show rooms in shopping mall, show car options and colors in VR, and accept orders online there, if dealers don't improve.

 

Few if any dealers could survive off selling ONLY Volvos. Their marketshare is absolute crap in the United States. As much as I love the brand, apparently many Americans don't agree. Volvo moved less cars than any other brand, besides Jaguar and Fiat,in March 2018. Not considering cars 6 figures and greater...

That's not good...

http://www.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3022-autosales.html

 

My dealer also sells Porsche and Maserati, so they certainly understand what the high end market is. The people are great, as is the service, but the facility is a step down from the local Lexus dealership. I really do think it's a matter of the big difference in how many cars they each sell per year.

 

In Europe, Volvo is not yet a premium class (BMW, Audi, Mercedes).

Volvo want with new models from 2016 (xc90) to enter the premium class but it's need time to show if it really can

In addition to the quality of cars it is necessary still a lot of other things to be in premium class

 

Well I think volvo has gone about the approach the right way. Deliver product that can successfully compete with other luxury brands and this has been achieved. Volvo has already surpassed Lincoln in US sales and this is their first generation of luxury products (SPA architecture volvos). the next step is to uplift the dealership experience and deliver another round of luxury based products. They are on the right track by not putting the cart before the horse. Lincoln has attempted to do luxury for more than 20 years now and is just starting to get some traction. I suspect that somewhere in the history books there will be a complete business case as to how Volvo transformed their business into a true luxury automotive vehicle company that other manufacturers can learn from. There is always room for improvement but they are definitely on the right track. Great Product first then services second.

 

For a case study, look at Hyundai. They sell their luxury brand Gensis side by side to their other vehicles costing half the price.

 

Thanks, 850platinum -- that was an excellent analysis IMHO.

 

In the end, luxury or premium, is the perception of the buyers. It takes long time (10 to 20 years maybe) for a new brand image to establish. Like people started to believe Toyota and Honda cars are reliable 10+ years after they came here. 10 to 20 years after Hyundai and KIA came, they probably are not considered cheap built cars now.

When current XC90 becomes 10+ years old, many people will still be surprised by the luxury options and nice interior, then Volvo will be accepted by mass market as luxury model. And of course dealerships should be improved. But I do see even Jaguar, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lamborghini show room is also small and old in town. Porsche, MB, BMW, Audi show room is big and remodeled recent years.

I think the show-and-sell setup should be changed a little even for traditional dealerships. Big parking lots is rare now. Many of them just lease a parking lot out of business zone to park their stock vehicles. The showroom should be equipped with VR to show the exact color and options to buyers, and only have cars for test driving and imminent sale.

 

In the end, luxury or premium, is the perception of the buyers.

I can not be the same

In Europe premium class are Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Lexus....

Luxury class are: Porsche, Aston Martin, Lambo, Bentley, Maserati .....

 

I always saw Volvo as a luxury brand. But their dealer network needs a huge upgrade. I had some Acura's and their dealer network was very comparable to Volvo's. But it's nothing compared to BMW's. When I shopped for my BMW's the dealers were all consistent based on BMW's requirements. Throughout the years of my BMW ownership, I noticed how each BMW dealer and service center were renovated/upgraded to the same standards across. It was truly an experience bringing my cars in for service. The service centers were huge and most were built a couple of miles from the main showroom due their requirements.

I'm disappointed in the Volvo dealers near me or that I have seen. The showrooms and service bays are small. Most of the dealers looks run down. But can't blame them. They weren't doing so well previously. Hopefully now, with the new models and more sales, they will consider improving their dealer network.

I remember stopping by a Volvo dealer near my work right when the XC90 first came out. This dealer was almost as small as a NYC apartment. The showroom had 2 sales person and the service bay only had 1 lift and 1 tech on duty. It was a sad sight at that time but they have renovated and expanded since then.

 

my local Volvo dealer also only sells Volvo. They own two lots, one in the larger city about 30mins away and one here in the 'burbs. They may own other the rights to other brands but they don't sell them in the Volvo lots. They aren't even located in the auto malls where all the other dealers/brands are located in one area. One is down the street from our neighborhood and the other is in a large retail area. And I would consider them both fairly small lots.

 

Ok let me clarify... Just because the dealer DOES NOT co-brand it's lot with other Auto Makers, doesn't mean said Dealer doesn't have other brands.

My point is very few Volvo Dealers ONLY specialize in Volvo. I.E. Of course there are SOME....But they are more the exception than the rule. Volvo is just a low volume brand compared to every other automaker out there.....not counting 6 figure brands like maserati, Bentley, etc

 

I think perception-wise, most of the buying public is a decade or two away from being able to apply the luxury label to cars manufactured in China at lower cost like the XC60. The Chinese manufacturing enables (not yet seen, ignoring 2019 tariffs for the moment) deep price cuts for a premium product. So I think it makes good Geely business sense for cutting prices and capturing more market share for these Geely/Volvo products. But perhaps calling it a "luxury automobile" is still a bit of a stretch compared to the European made products at a similar price point. Time and pricing will tell.

 

Why do you think XC60 got price cut? A post earlier just pointed out a max out fully loaded XC60 is more expensive than Q5 and X3.

iPhone is manufactured in China and nobody ever doubted it is high end.

Agreed luxury among well qualified cars is more about perception than merits.

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So what exactly defines a car brand as "Luxury"?

In the Mississauga area (suburb of Toronto) the Volvo dealerships are nicer than most Mercedes, Audi, BMX, Acura, etc. (except Mercedes Burlington - they had a spa and gold sims in their basement)

Before we purchased our 19' T6 Inscription, we test drove all the usual suspects in this category and the clear winner was the XC60.

My brother has a Discovery LR4 and Discovery Sport - I would never purchase one of those - the number of problems they have are unbelievable, yet some consider Land Rover a "Luxury" brand.