Volvo Car Corporation, a division of Ford, plans to restructure its official dealerships in Russia, Kommersant business daily reported on Friday citing Desmond Mullen, the new managing director of Volvo Car Russia.
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On Thursday, Mullen said that in future Volvo Car Russia plans to work “only with those partners that fully meet the high standards set by the company for its dealers all over the world,” Kommersant reported.
Kommersant also said that Volvo Car Russia had got rid of five of its Russian dealers, accounted for 25% of the company’s sales in Russia. The company decided not to renew the contracts for this year with three Moscow dealerships, Kuntsevo, Avtopassage and Avtotemp.
Alexander Ivanov, marketing manager of Volvo Cars Russia, told Kommersant that those companies could have kept their licences if they had proposed a sales development plan.
Ivanov said that the three ex-dealers accounted for no more than 15% of Volvo sales in Moscow, the paper reported.
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By GlobalDataEarlier, Bovista and Togliatti-based August also lost their Volvo contracts, Kommersant said, although the latter company would remain a Volvo sub-dealer.
Mullen said that the company does not plan to further reduce the number of its dealers but aims to increase sales by expanding its network of subdealers, Kommersant said.
The Prime-Tass news agency noted that Volvo car sales in Russia were almost flat year on year in 2004. On January 13, an official with Volvo Car Russia reportedly said that sales of Volvo cars through its official dealerships in Russia increased a mere 0.4% on the year to 5,048 cars in 2004. In 2003 Volvo Car Russia sold 5,027 cars in Russia, up from 2,929 cars in 2002.
According to Kommersant, in 2004, Volvo Car Russia had more than 20 dealers in 18 regions of Russia, including nine dealers in Moscow.
