Chinese-Swedish automotive brand Lynk & Co has just opened its first European showroom in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The showroom marks the company's first foray into the European markets and part of its plans to expand its business outside of China.
Lynk & Co, which is owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, first unveiled its European business plan last month. As part of its business plan, the company will be launching a subscription-like membership program under its sustainable mobility initiative.
The upscale brand, which was founded in 2016 as a joint venture between Geely and Volvo, has kicked off the presale of its upcoming Lynk & Co 01 sport utility vehicle. The particular SUV was designed for the global market and will be the first vehicle available to European buyers.
Lynk & Co is heavily banking on its sustainable mobility vision to ensure its growth in foreign markets. Through its membership model, the company hopes to lure away buyers from transitional purchasing and leasing programs by offering significant savings on insurance and maintenance costs.
Members of the program can "share" their vehicles with other members using Lynk & Co's mobile application. Through the app, the cost of "ownership" of the vehicles will be significantly reduced.
"Compared with selling more vehicles, we prefer to develop a different business model of the automobile industry, which can use the car more effectively in addition to the 4% of use time," Lynk & Co's chief executive officer, Alain Visser, said in a statement.
Lynk & Co's plans to open additional European showrooms in the coming years. This includes new outlets in countries such as Germany, Belgium, France, Italy and Spain. The company did not immediately release a detailed timeline of when it plans to open showrooms in the aforementioned countries.
Since it had unveiled its first model in late 2017, Lynk & Co had sold more than 360,000 vehicles by the end of September this year. Over the first nine months of 2020, the company managed to sell 105,937 vehicles, an impressive feat given the global pandemic.
