NewVolvo marketing shift drives move to online car sales

Volvo Car Corp will start selling vehicles online as it rolls out new models to compete with German luxury rivals such as BMW.

The Swedish carmaker, controlled by China's Geely, would gradually introduce web sales and spend more on digital advertising, it said as it outlined changes to its global marketing strategy yesterday.

"The plan is to have all our car lines in all our markets offered digitally," Volvo sales chief Alain Visser said.

Few manufacturers have tried selling directly online. A notable exception is Tesla, whose electric car sales have cut out traditional dealers, leading to conflict and effective exclusion from parts of the United States.

But Volvo has assured its 2,000 global dealerships that it has no such plans.

"If you say the word e-commerce, initially dealers get nervous," Visser said.

"We don't see a car distribution network without dealers in the foreseeable future," he said, adding that vehicles sold online "will still pass through the dealer network" for delivery.