Volvo goes new ways. This applies not only to the technical realignment in the luxury class, but also to the marketing of premium products. While the Swedes were content with a sneak preview for current Volvo owners at the launch of the XC90, the S90 sedan and its associated V90 combination offshoot are currently being presented in a new-concept tour called ClubB90. Long before the start of sales in late July (S90) or late September (V90).
“The response has been great,” says marketing manager Patrick Wendt after six out of ten events in German cities. "Without special advertising measures, we expect a total of more than 5.000 guests at the ten events." In addition to invited Volvo customers, curious people from outside the brand were also able to register via the Volvo website. Up to two thirds of the 500 evening visitors stated that they were driving a vehicle "from a premium brand in the south of Germany," as Wendt puts it.
After all, that is precisely the purpose of the elaborate action. In order to achieve the planned numbers with the S90 and V90, Volvo had to go on a conquest tour. Convincing the previous customers is not a problem. However, a S80 was last sold rather in homeopathic doses, and many interested parties still have to convince them that the Swedish brand no longer edged box van builds. "And this concept fits perfectly," Wendt is convinced. "The money we save because we no longer compete at every auto show, we can use here much more meaningful." That the Swedes were not represented at the last IAA as the only major car brand, they should at least estimated cost of at least 10 Saved millions of euros.
The highlight of the new event presentation is, in addition to a first test session in the new cars and the four theme islands on design, plug-in hybrid drive in the T8 model, infotainment and the Intelli-Safe safety systems, especially the first use of the "Augmented -Reality glasses “(Augmented Reality) in Germany. The 2015 agreed cooperation with Microsoft, which also includes the development of new automotive technologies and should promote autonomous driving systems and the use of data of networked vehicles, makes it possible.
These glasses, called "HoloLens", mix animation with reality. It helps the wearer to design a vehicle exactly to his own ideas and to virtually observe it in a "real environment", to compare colors and rims and to get to know special features, services and options. A look at the virtual Volvo S90 also shows how assistance systems work or how networked vehicles will later communicate with each other. A test drive in the digital art world behind the wheel of the sedan was not yet possible in the Klubb90. This would also have exceeded the time frame and would have put even more strain on the patience of the waiting guests in the queues. (Michael Lennartz)