Volvo aims to have half its global sales transacted online and the Swedes aren’t shying away in getting a little helping hand from digital car retailer Carwow to improve its online vehicles sales. To achieve that, the carmaker has acquired a strategic minority stake in carwow.

Most of you might recognise Carwow from their videos online with host Mat Watson pitting all cars of all shapes and sizes against each other on an air strip that doubles up as a drag strip. What you might not know is that Carwow is a leading online marketplace in the UK, Germany and Spain.

Financial details of the deal weren’t revealed but the stake was acquired via Volvo Cars Tech Fund. The fund serves as Volvo’s venture capital arm that was launched in 2018. It’s primary purpose is to acquire stakes of up to 10 percent in companies that the carmaker believes will enrich its expertise in fields beyond its core carmaking.

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Lidar sensor developer Luminar is an example of the fund in action. Volvo invested in the company 4 years ago and has since seen them become a key technology partner that led to Volvo’s Ride Pilot system that they claim offers “unsupervised autonomous driving.”

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Similarly, Carwow’s strength lies in its massive reach that sees the YouTube channel boast nearly 7 million subscribers.

“There are many marketplaces out there but what is particularly interesting about this one is that they are giving customers so much value with articles and videos. We want to learn from that and benefit from that on the road to reaching 50 percent online sales by 2025,” said Volvo global sales boss Magnus Fredin to Automotive News Europe.

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Furthermore, Carwow carries a customer satisfaction rating of 4.7 to 4.8 out of a maximum of 5 for the experience of purchasing a car via the platform. Currently, Volvo’s online direct sales programs are a little behind at 4.2 to 4.3 out 5 and they’re hoping the expertise of Carwow will help boost figure.

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Fredin wasn’t afraid to admit Volvo’s lagging behind in online sales compared to Carwow. Currently, the carmaker offers its online sales in Germany, the UK, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway and the U.S but hopes to expand that to more markets.

Volvo aims to be an all-electric brand by 2030 with all its EVs only available for sale online.

“I think what this relationship with Carwow will lead to is a better understanding of what customers want, and we will also learn what customer questions we have to answer as we transition to electrification,” added Fredin.

The carmaker admits it wants to further deepen its understanding of customer expectations from online purchasing as their offerings slowly progresses towards full EVs.

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Primarily, the investment will see both parties continuing to collaborate on Volvo’s subscription service, Care by Volvo whilst Carwow drives sales leads to Volvo’s retail network.

However, the partnership isn’t an exclusive one and both parties are free to collaborate with other partners should the opportunity arise in the future.