Lynk & Co: ‘Received much more enthusiastically than expected’

Lynk & Co has only been active in the Netherlands for two years, but the brand is already good for 11th place in the sales figures here this year. 3,787 Lynk & Co’s 01 were already worn in 2022. In September, the 01 was even the second best-selling car here. A remarkable achievement for such a young brand, although the 01 is of course a Volvo XC40 with a somewhat different look. In its own words, Lynk & Co did not foresee that it would catch on like this. They told AutoWeek: “When we launched it, we were counting on 9,000 members in Europe. However, now we are already close to 80,000. We definitely see an interest in this form of ownership and have had a warm welcome in the Netherlands, our largest market in Europe.”

With this ‘form of ownership’ Lynk & Co refers to the subscription, whereby you can drive the plug-in hybrid Lynk & Co 01 for a fixed amount per month, can be canceled monthly and with less costs if you share the car with others. However, the Lynk & Co 01 can also simply be bought separately and the sales figures are based on copies sold separately and new cars that go into ‘rental’. Its exact ratio is unknown. Undoubtedly it helps that the Lynk & Co 01 is available relatively quickly for individual sales. Currently, the brand in the Netherlands counts on a delivery time of at most one month if you buy one. The fact that there is little to tick when ordering an 01 helps to keep the delivery time short. He’s not for the gourmet; you can only get it in black or blue, with or without a tow bar. If you want one on a subscription basis, you have to wait considerably longer: 5 to 6 months. That in turn does not really help to make the subscription form so often emphasized by the brand interesting.

“Who are those people?” you may be wondering about the Lynk & Co riders. Well, we don’t get a very specific profile, but according to the brand it is not just young people ‘looking for a new form of mobility’, but also ‘people who are young at heart’. That’s right. This mainly concerns people who live in urban areas and therefore probably need the car less often than people outside the cities. After all, in that case it is also easier to lend the car and, as mentioned, your subscription costs. Nevertheless, according to Lynk & Co, demand is also growing outside the city. We are curious to see if Lynk & Co can maintain the momentum. The fact that the 01 was recently facelifted will possibly give it a helping hand by the time that facelift is also implemented here.