Volvo moves to Bonnevoie

Can you explain your background?

I’m about to turn 52, and I have 30 years’ experience in the car industry. My adventure began with Mercedes in Belgium in 1994. I quickly realized that concentrating on just one brand would be limiting. That’s how Volvo came to the fore in 2007, starting with a Volvo Scandia dealership in Villers-le-Bouillet that we built from scratch. The results were so encouraging that Volvo put their trust in us. In 2015, seven years after our start-up, we took over Nordicar in Liège, which tripled our volume overnight. Over time, I reached the limits of my ambitions with Mercedes and decided to sell. Obviously, I had a well-prepared plan with Volvo. After a few months of constructive discussions, we managed to align our ambitions. So I carried out an operational reorganization by selling Mercedes and investing in Polestar and then Volvo, with the aim of having a major position in Wallonia. Last April, we finalized the acquisition of Autopolis Scancar by Nordicar. After a transition period, we are going to reorganize the structures to harmonize the different legal entities.

Doesn’t leaving the multi-brand Autopolis dealership to set up a new Volvo dealership in Luxembourg City go against the grain of dealership consolidation?

No, insofar as we are part of this trend towards consolidation. We’re getting bigger, and we need to get bigger in order to cope with the costs and expenses we face. However, we are not engaging in frenzied and unstructured expansion. For the moment, we are concentrating on Volvo and Polestar. We also have the idea of going further with the Geely group. It was also Volvo’s wish to no longer be alongside brands that are not part of the same group. On the other hand, I’m an entrepreneur who has to anticipate and plan for the future. So I’ve got a pretty clear idea of what I want to do, and I can already announce that we’re not just going to stay with Volvo, and we’re in the process of finalizing a project with a promising brand.

In concrete terms, the new Volvo dealership has been open since 3 June…

Yes, we’ve taken up residence at Bonnevoie in the former BMW dealership, a site belonging to Benji Kontz. It’s a well-known and recognized location, with lots of foot traffic and excellent visibility. It’s a great opportunity because we didn’t have a wide range of options for finding a site with a workshop that could accommodate us.

From an operational point of view, by buying Volvo Autopolis, 80 employees have agreed to join us in this adventure. So customers will have the same contacts; only the working and reception environment will be different and bigger.

Does this mean that you will become the exclusive Volvo dealer in Luxembourg?

Not at present. But with our two sites, at Bonnevoie and Diekirch, we should represent, in my opinion, between 80 and 85% of the Luxembourg market for the brand, which is already well represented in terms of market share. Our ambition is to improve it further. We have some fine models like the 100% electric XC40 and now the XC30. The XC60 remains a best-seller in Luxembourg, and we’re looking forward to the new range on the horizon. I can also mention the new XC90, which is about to arrive.