Two hundred decision makers from end-user fleets, rent-a-car, leasing, chauffeur, taxi  and fleet management companies attended the event in Estepona, southern Spain where 50 of the very first cars off the production line were available for test drive.

Fleets from as far afield as China and Canada were the first to drive the cars on public roads, a combination of urban and rural driving with excellent weather conditions, following a successful press launch the week before. The launch event coincided with the global fleet sales team’s 30th anniversary of being the first car brand to set up a global fleet team.

Following the launch of the multi award winning all-new XC90 in 2015, the new S90 and V90 launch in 2016 is another major step in the future of the brand, with fleets firmly at the heart of Volvo’s continued global sales growth.

Volvo Car Corporation’s senior product manager for the new S90 and V90 Stefan Sällqvisttalked the fleets through the cars in detail including the chassis and powertrains, plus where the models fit into the Volvo range. He showcased the host of new technologies fitted to the car such as the Pilot Assist semi-autonomous drive feature and latest version of City Safety which includes emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection and the world’s first application of large animal detection.

Volvo also discussed future trends such as the connected car and the brand’s progress as a leader in autonomous driving.

After a two hours spent with each car including driving, the sales country host spent time with their fleet guests explaining the car’s pricing, residual values positioning and sales forecasts.

“The fantastic attendance at the global drive event showed the importance of the S90 and V90 to fleets as well as the Volvo brand,” explained John Wallace, Global Fleet Development director at Volvo Car Corporation.

“Responses from fleets were exceptional both on the quality and refinement of the S90 and V90 but also on the class leading safety features and technology fitted as standard. The itinerary was very focussed on enabling guests to both experience the cars and  continue to run their businesses. One decision maker shared his business proposal for S90/V90 with my team and when he returned from the test drive we had the responses and the result was immediate orders for V90.

“It was also nice to commemorate our global fleet sales team’s 30th anniversary on the event as it shows Volvo’s anticipation of more companies looking to source and buy company vehicles on a global basis was well founded,’ he added.