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Harwoods Volvo Crawley
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Following the grand opening of the new Harwoods Volvo dealership on Manor Royal, Maarten Hoffmann sat down with their Head of Business, Lewi Fasulo to chat about his background and the new showroom
Many thanks for giving us your time Lewi and it would be great to know a little more about you?
I have been in the industry for over 20 years with the last 15 of those with a major PLC offering the BMW range and having received quite a few offers to leave over the years, Volvo is one of the only brands l would have left BMW for. Not only is it a superb brand but so many BMW drivers are now leaving the brand for Volvo.
What induced Harwoods to launch a new showroom in the middle of a pandemic?
This site was always a motor dealer and with Volvo sharing so many of the core principles of Harwoods, such as safety, sustainability and always putting customers front and centre, it was an obvious fit. We have taken quite a run down property and totally transformed it into a cutting edge Volvo showroom. We are proud of the fact that we are a VRE business, that is a Volvo Retail Experience business, and that places us at the top of the Volvo dealerships offering the total immersive package, from the moment the customer walks in the door and for as long at that customer drives a Volvo.
The pandemic has given us the opportunity to get the showroom built and up to standard ready for the surge in new car sales, and we are certainly starting to see that surge. It is a very Scandi-
❛❛ We are proud of the fact that we are a Volvo Retail Experience business, and that places us at the very top of the Volvo dealerships ❜❜
style showroom with lots of reclaimed wood, clean lines, no brochures, no windows stickers – Volvo have a very defined style and we echo that throughout.
Historically, Volvo have always had the image of extreme safety but not very exciting cars and you have opened at a time when that is absolutely old news as the range now, and l have reviewed the entire range over the past year, is superb.
I couldn’t agree more. The range now is world-class and with a safety record second to none. The electric trend is also front and centre with at least 50% of all new cars by 2025 being electric, with a massive emission reduction in all other models. Sustainability really is at the heart of everything Volvo do. The new XC40 Recharge is world-leading and represents over 40% of all Volvo sales – and you’ve had it for a week, what did you think?
Our readers will have to turn to the motoring section to find out but in short, l was stunned by its build quality, the battery efficiency and the dynamic drive – l would say that it’s the leading EV car on sale today.
It is winning accolades and awards across the board and is the company’s best seller. Of course, EV models are more expense to buy but over time with the cost of fuel, servicing, no road tax and, of course, you cannot put a price on saving the planet therefore over its life-time it is actually less expensive than a fossil fuelled car. We have twelve fast chargers right here on site which is really well covered by our WiFi network meaning that whilst customers, are here, their car will automatically receive updates without even walking in the door. We also have every single model in the range right here on site, superb servicing facilities and a team who cannot do enough for our customers so we believe we really have it all for the Crawley area.
With the majority of car purchases now being lease deals, do you have that facility in-house?
We certainly do. We have an in-house brokerage that can offer really competitive rates across the range and of course, we benefit from the stellar reputation of Harwoods – customers really want to deal with Harwoods as we have a long reputation for excellent products and excellent service.
In my experience, people who drive an EV model are immediately convinced, will you be offering 48 hours test drives and the like?
Absolutely. Customers need to touch and feel the product and to live with it for a day or two – it really is a very convincing proposition once they insert an EV into their everyday lives. There are some false perceptions about EVs but we just ask customers to come into the showroom and allow us to expel the myths and show them what this extraordinary technology can do. It is a game-changer. And if an EV is not for them, then we have a great range of hybrid models too – there really is something for everyone in the Volvo range.
As soon as regulations allow, we would like to invite every one in the area to the site as we cannot wait to show off the showroom and the products. This is a very exciting time and we cannot wait to share it.
Many thanks Lewi.
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