MD Stephen Connor on what’s next for Volvo Car Australia

**Tipping point**

Volvo Car Australia is on track for another record sales year. MD Stephen Connor is targeting 15,000 car sales in 2023 – and backing electric vehicles to drive growth.

Connor forecasts Volvo will sell more than double the number of all-electric vehicles sold in 2022, making up circa 40 per cent of total sales by the year-end. “Next year that will rise to 70 per cent,” he told Mi3, underlining that demand for EVs in Australia is rising faster than many people expected.

“What happened last year is that we started to see consumer demand change – people were starting to buy battery electric cars without subsidies. That was the big tipping point I noticed in our business,” said Connor. Hence making the decision last October to sell only electric models by 2026, four years ahead of Volvo Cars’ global target.

He thinks that by 2030, all carmakers will be clamouring to position themselves as the EV leaders and fastest transformers. “[Going all-electric early] gives us the lead and the edge against our competitors and it also protects our revenue streams,” said Connor. “It will be our point of difference.”

**Online sales**

Connor said Volvo Car Australia will soon launch online sales as the company globally and locally ramps up direct-to-consumer ecommerce operations.

“We do everything else online, why wouldn’t we give people the ability to buy online? We need to make it easier for the consumer.”

But he underlined that Volvo would also “have a retailer footprint for forever and a day because some people like coming to the retailers, seeing them, talking to the experts. But we’ve got to make sure that we give consumers choice”.

**Retail transformation**

Connor outlined Volvo Car Australia’s work with retailers to shape its network for the future, rolling out rapid charging infrastructure nationally over the next 12-18 months.

He floated the potential for Volvo outlets in shopping centres, mobile servicing and a transformation of what dealers have historically offered – sales, servicing and parts – towards more experience-focused customer hubs.

“The next part is to train and coach our retailers on what the new world looks like, and we're putting in plans again this year to try and support that – because our consumers look different,” said Connor.

“There’s no point this industry just carrying on in the way we've always carried on … and we will work with our retailers to transform their business over the next three years.”