Volvo pulls out of Geneva Motor Show 2019

Swedish maker wants to focus on ‘bespoke activities’ instead

Volvo V60 at Geneva 2017Volvo is continuing its withdrawal from traditional automotive industry events by announcing it is not going to attend the Geneva Motor Show next year.

“The ongoing change in the car industry is creating new audiences for Volvo Cars and new ways of bringing products to the market,” explained Björn Annwall, senior vice president of strategy, brand and retail at Volvo Cars.

“Automatic attendance at traditional industry events is no longer viable – we must tailor our communications based on how the options complement our messaging, timing and the nature of the technology we are presenting.”

Volvo had already withdrawn from most major motor shows. Geneva was one of the the exceptions, given its compact size and international nature – but now even this is being culled as the firm shifts towards Volvo’s own events and “purpose-specific communications” instead.

Volvo wants to build a database of more than five million direct customer relationships by 2025.

“We are not saying never to car shows,” said Annwall. “We expect industry events like the Geneva Motor Show to continue evolving and we may return in future.”

New Volvo V60

An example of Volvo’s new, more direct communications with customers and potential buyers will come later this month, when the firm reveals its new S60 at the Charleston, South Carolina plant that will build it.

Once the S60 is rolled out, Volvo will have fully renewed its entire model range, a process that begun in 2014 with the launch of the XC90 SUV.

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Richard Aucock
Richard Aucockhttps://www.richardaucock.co.uk/
Richard is director at Motoring Research. He has been with us since 2001, and has been a motoring journalist even longer. He won the IMCO Motoring Writer of the Future Award in 1996 and the acclaimed Sir William Lyons Award in 1998. Both awards are run by the Guild of Motoring Writers and Richard is currently vice chair of the world's largest organisation for automotive media professionals. Richard is also a juror and Steering Committee director for World Car Awards and the UK juror for the AUTOBEST awards.

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