A younger Volvo

Last week, Viking Cars, Inc. gave away red envelopes, each one containing a cash voucher worth P88,888 that would be immediately deducted from the purchase price of a Volvo vehicle.

"This is our way of thanking our present and future clients. Since we opened for business in November 1994, we have sold 2,400 vehicles," said president Alberto Arcilla.

Last year, Viking sold 292 units, a 40% growth from the year ago level. This year, the sales target is between 450 and 500 units.

"It’s a target we can meet. In January alone, we sold 54 units. During the celebration of the Chinese New Year at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, we had people eyeing eight special cars, which the hotel’s resident feng shui expert declared as lucky cars," said vice-president for marketing services Jocelyn Mananlansang-Buena.

Geomancers or feng shui experts have declared the Year of the Rooster as an excellent one for anything metallic. This year is also Viking’s self-imposed deadline to meet its goal of making Volvo the most successful premium automotive company in the country.

Strategy

"We are already the market leader in the large segment of the luxury car category. That’s based on the latest data of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines. What we have been doing is developing the small segment or that market which wants to upgrade from Japanese to European cars. Our entry-level car is competitively-priced at P1.9 million," said Arcilla.

Towards this end, Viking commissioned last year a market study, which showed that potential buyers in their 30s, many of whom still lived at home, had a preference for dynamic-looking cars.

"For buyers who are either paying for the cars themselves or are given a budget by their companies, zero-interest financing of up to two years would be the deal-clincher. This is true for all individual buyers, whether he/she is buying his/her first European car or buying a second car for the family," said Arcilla.

Individual buyers currently account for close to 50% of total sales.

Service

Viking is the authorized dealer and service center of Volvo cars in the country. This year, it will double its showrooms to four – two in Manila, one in Pampanga to service customers north of Metro Manila and one in Cebu to service the Visayas and Mindanao.

The company gets its completely built units from importer, Scandanavian Motor Co.

"Because there is a three-month lead time from the time we place the order to the time SMC gets the CBUs from Sweden, we have to anticipate what models would move faster than others. We don’t want to keep our customers waiting. At the same time, we want to keep our costs down by keeping just the right number of units as inventory," said Arcilla.

To keep tabs of what customers want in a car, the company regularly gets feedback from existing customers. It also has an event-driven marketing strategy, which enables the company to interact with potential customers.

"We are an exponent of motoring safety. We will not participate in an event where drinking is a major activity," said Mananlansang-Buena.

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Safety is one of three core values of 77-year-old Volvo Cars. The other two values are quality and environment.

"Volvo’s brand equity of being a safe car is priceless. It’s not hard to market, especially when you have a young and knowledgeable marketing team," said Mananlansang-Buena.

Locally, a fourth core value is service. All company officers, for example, include their mobile phone numbers in their calling cards.

"I get calls late at night, asking me what this or that gadget in a newly purchased car does. A customer once asked me to make a casa (car maintenance/check-up) appointment for him and I made the appointment for him. This is part of our commitment to keep our customers happy," said Arcilla.

Not surprisingly, Viking has locally positioned Volvo as the "intelligent choice".