Delivery dates and specifications
 

Has anybody on here ordered a new car in the last 6 months or so, or taken delivery of one recently?
After receiving an absurd trade in price for my wife’s car, we placed an order for a new XC40 R Design in early July; at the time, the estimated delivery date was early October.
Shortly before then we received a call from the dealer, saying that it would now be December and, today, another call stating that it will be March at the earliest! They also said that any new enquirers are being told that new orders will not be fulfilled until 2023.
While we fully understand the reasons behind the delays, and are more than happy to continue enjoying her old car; the dealer has promised to honour the deal as it stands, so we are not losing out, I am now wondering exactly what specification the new car, if and when it is delivered, will be. I understand that the T3 is no longer available, and the specification for the R Design has changed, so some features such as pilot assist are now standard features. So, does anybody know what cars are now filtering through?
Will our new car be a mild hybrid?
Will it have sensus or Google?
Is it likely to have the 2022 updates to the specification, or even the 2023?
Any other changes?

Welcome to the unknown, I placed my order on 8th October for a S60 Polestar and so far its all going well only thing i'm not getting is BLIS which doesn't bother me.

Mine is due for delivery middle of April due to the chip issue and the fact they've changed to a bigger electric motor etc... I get weekly updates from my dealer and they were saying they expect it to come forward shortly due to some process changes Volvo are making (who knows what this means!)

These ‘lead times’ and ‘build slots’ are a bit of a mystery.

I read over on the XC60 group about being able to order a car under the ‘Rental Scheme’ and receive it within weeks. But if you order a car as a ‘purchase’ you will be waiting for months. It may be that the rental scheme cars provided by Volvo UK are pre-set specifications.

As I used to understand it, each Volvo dealer was allocated a number of ‘build slots’ at given intervals by Volvo HQ. The dealer could then play around with these slots as they wished – they could even negotiate with other dealers and their build slots.

For example: if you where a loyal customer the dealer could bump you up the build slot line to get your car sooner – unfortunately someone else would then be bumped down as a consequence. Obviously, the dealer’s ability of moving peoples build slots around can only be done for a period of time until the build is ‘locked’.

Dealers also order cars to be built for their showrooms allowing those customers the ability to walk in off the street and buy and drive away. Dealers can also use these (showroom) build slots and convert them to customer purchase build slots, where the customer can change the spec to their liking as long as a build lock has not been set yet.

You then finally add the build slot orders that Volvo UK place – for those rental scheme agreements that customs place directly with Volvo UK.

So, it’s the dance of the Build Slots. And from what I’m hearing the Volvo UK rental scheme agreement orders are taking priority over local dealer orders. This may also tie up with the UK Gov intentions of banning the private ownership of cars in the future.

Ultimately, car makers want to remove any ability to customise the car specification of an order and to move all sales transactions away from local dealers to online through their HQs – just like buying any other online purchase. I would never be surprised if one day soon you will be able to buy your new Volvo through Amazon!

Just had my weekly update and its moved forward it was originally Mid April but its now been brought forward to early March.

This weeks update is it’s moved from March to June! 3 weeks earlier it has moved from April to March so somethings happened but they haven’t said what. I’m giving them a call tomorrow. IF it comes in June it’ll be 8 months

My wife ordered an Inscription in June for October delivery via Santander.

Latest estimate is February have slipped to November, then December, then January…. I suspect the supplying dealer is prioritising their slots.

It appears that our delivery date has slipped again, they are now saying that it is unlikely to be March. The dealer said that they normally send out 30-40 new cars a month, but were down to 4 last month.
We are not concerned yet, as we are quite happy with the XC40 we are trading in, but I do wonder what car will eventually be delivered; the specifications of the various models has changed somewhat since the car was ordered, and I have heard that the T3 has been dropped, so I suspect that the supplied car may be somewhat different to the T3 R Design that we ordered.

Ordered via work (NHS lease) this week and told July.

Ordered my XC40 Inscription Pro Recharge T5 at the beginning of August 2021. The only extra I requested was the factory fitted tow bar . Took delivery on the 11 th January 2022. This is my 5th Volvo and I’m enjoying the new car, the only issue I’ve had is with the app !

Ordered my XC40 Inscription Pro Recharge T5 at the beginning of August 2021. The only extra I requested was the factory fitted tow bar . Took delivery on the 11 th January 2022. This is my 5th Volvo and I’m enjoying the new car, the only issue I’ve had is with the app !