{"id":581578,"date":"2026-08-03T10:21:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T10:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/581578\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T10:21:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T10:21:33","slug":"volvo-ireland-invests-e40m-to-bring-nordic-touch-to-dealership-network-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/581578\/","title":{"rendered":"Volvo Ireland invests \u20ac40m to bring Nordic touch to dealership network \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThere\u2019s a level of genuine excitement in the network … a belief that, actually, they\u2019re investing in something that is going to grow and is going to deliver,\u201d Alan Cowley says as he sits in a boardroom at Volvo<\/a>\u2019s Nordic-inspired office in Citywest<\/a>, Dublin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The head of the Swedish motor company\u2019s operations in Ireland has spent the last two years rethinking from the ground up its approach to selling cars.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Volvo Car Ireland announced \u201ca fundamental reimagining\u201d of its business footprint, with an investment of at least \u20ac40 million into 10 dealerships across the State.<\/p>\n

Ground has already been broken on a dealership in Sligo<\/a> town and work on another in north Dublin begins in the coming months.<\/p>\n

Most of the investment will be spent on bricks and mortar to redevelop the company\u2019s dealerships to reflect the luxury design and experience expected nowadays of a Swedish-born brand.<\/p>\n

Comfortable lounges and private meeting rooms where customers can wait while their car is serviced, two technicians on hand at all times to ensure they don\u2019t wait longer than an hour for that service, and ample space for them to park up and for Volvo cars to be displayed are just some of the features Cowley has planned.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to create a showroom that represented that Scandinavian feel so that we could deliver a much more premium customer experience,\u201d he says, envisaging \u201ca scenario where the customer feels more in control of the sales process\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than the traditional desk where the salesperson has established themselves and sits behind that desk, becoming a very formal experience, we\u2019re trying to break down those barriers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe consumer will choose where to sit in the showroom and we can offer that consultation throughout the showroom \u2013 whether that be at a high table, over a coffee in the coffee area or in a private meeting room \u2013 wherever the customer chooses is what we want to deliver,\u201d Cowley continues.<\/p>\n

He says the 10 dealerships in the new network will be \u201cmarginally down\u201d from the number it currently maintains throughout Ireland \u2013 11 in the Republic and one in Belfast. <\/p>\n

\u201cConsolidation was important because the investment is very significant. So, we need to make sure the investors can achieve a reasonable return. But, equally, to deliver the kind of customer experience and the quality of showroom [we want], it was reasonable to reduce, somewhat, the number of sites,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

While there is no increased employment involved with the investment, the business benefits from the \u20ac40 million are intended to extend beyond a simple brand revamp.<\/p>\n

Supported by 10 investors, who Cowley says are \u201call Irish-based\u201d and \u201call family-owned\u201d, Volvo is targeting a 15 per cent share of the premium car market in Ireland by 2030.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really well positioned\u201d to achieve that goal, he adds. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen growth this year of close to 10 per cent, and last year close to 10 per cent as well. So, this is not a \u2018pie in the sky\u2019 future objective, it\u2019s something we\u2019re living.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s most recent publicly-available financial accounts reveal it generated \u20ac112 million in turnover in 2024, a 4.77 per cent increase from the previous year, and earned just under \u20ac950,000 in pretax profit, a 37.81 per cent increase from 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m entirely convinced that we\u2019ll deliver on what we\u2019ve committed to,\u201d Cowley says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe won\u2019t do it on our own. We need the retail partners who are making those still significant investments. We need them to do a lot of heavy lifting. They are the people who meet the customer, the ones who build those relationships and make it all happen,\u201d he goes on.<\/p>\n

In recent years, Volvo\u2019s path to fulfilling its 2021 pledge of selling only electric cars<\/a> by 2030 has been less than straightforward. It has been difficult to get customers on side with it, leading the parent group to scrap the goal in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a little less concerned about exactly when we get to full electric,\u201d Cowley says, adding that 90 per cent of Volvo\u2019s cars in Ireland are either electric or hybrid vehicles. \u201cIt\u2019s still our mission to get to full electric, but it\u2019s a journey \u2013 it\u2019s taken some time for the market to catch up.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just Volvo. The wider industry-driven approach to go all in on electric vehicles has largely cooled off. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had to realise that the consumer has a say in this,\u201d Cowley says, \u201cit\u2019s not just about us dictating it; it has to be what the consumer wants and at what speed the customer chooses to move.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just over 23,600 electric cars were registered in the State last year, according to the Society of the Irish Motor Industry<\/a> (Simi), accounting for 19 per cent of all registrations \u2013 an increase of roughly 35 per cent increase on 2024. <\/p>\n

Over the first six months of this year, Simi says more than 20,000 EVs have been registered. That\u2019s 48 per cent ahead of the same time last year and puts the sector comfortably in line for record sales this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cCustomers see the value in the electrification journey … they\u2019re no longer more expensive\u201d than traditional petrol or diesel cars, Cowley says.<\/p>\n

He points to the more cost-effective approach of charging EVs at home, while adding that \u201cwe always would like better infrastructure\u201d in public spaces, which many people living in apartments rely on.<\/p>\n

The Kildare-born businessman, who has more than 20 years\u2019 experience in the industry, acknowledges \u201cthe total market is a very competitive space, and there\u2019s ever-increasing competition\u201d. <\/p>\n

He joined Volvo from rival Volkswagen in 2018 and still sees the German car brands as the company\u2019s main competitors. At a time when cars are becoming flashier and faster, Volvo is focusing on function and safety. <\/p>\n

In a nod to its heritage as the inventor of the first three-point seat belt, its most recent EX-60 has an innovative take on the now-staple safety feature: an \u201cadaptive\u201d version which \u201cwill sense the weight, the shape of the person and will recognise the tensioning that\u2019s required to keep that person safe in the unlikely event of a collision\u201d, Cowley says.<\/p>\n

Volvo believes the first safety belt it produced, and chose not to patent, has saved millions of lives. \u201cThis innovation will hopefully save another million lives on top of that,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

While the path to full electrification appears longer than first expected, the direction Volvo is travelling now appears more straightforward, with a streamlined investment plan taking them through to the next decade. <\/p>\n

The latest \u20ac40 million investment is fuel in the tank to reach its goal on market share, but if recent years are a lesson to the industry, there may yet be unforeseen bumps in the road.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThere\u2019s a level of genuine excitement in the network … a belief that, actually, they\u2019re investing in something…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":581579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[245411,615,8856,61,60,43,14169,115883,96390],"class_list":["post-581578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-citywest-business-campus","tag-dublin","tag-electric-vehicles","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-sligo","tag-society-of-the-irish-motor-industry-simi","tag-volvo-group"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}