Volvo Owners In Sweden Can Get Holiday Shopping Delivered To Their Cars

As the holiday shopping season shifts into high gear, Volvo is positioning itself as an online shopping helper via a new service launched in the carmaker’s hometown of Gothenburg, Sweden — which it promises will eventually be rolled out much more widely.

In-Car Delivery works by way of the company’s On Call service and a special one-time-use electronic key that is made available to package delivery drivers (as of now, only PostNord in Sweden), along with a GPS-enabled map of the car’s location.

Currently, shoppers may select in-car delivery when they’re checking out online at toy store Lekmer.com or grocery retailer Mat.se. They receive an SMS alert when the goods they’ve ordered are delivered to their cars — so when they drive home, they’ve already done their shopping.

“Christmas is fun — but, let’s be honest, it is also a busy time for most families. This service simply makes shopping easier,” said Björn Annwall, Senior Vice President for Marketing, Sales and Service at Volvo, in a statement. “Volvo In-car Delivery provides concrete proof that connected car technologies can be used to save people time and make their lives easier.”

Though the service is only available to a small market at the moment, the product launch allows the Swedish carmaker to establish its credentials as being on the cutting edge of technology, though it’s also asserting its brand values, saying it eschews technology for technology’s sake.

“If a technology does not make a customer’s life easier, better, safer or more fun, we don’t use it,” said Klas Bendrik, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Volvo.

As part of the product announcement, Volvo has released a YouTube video on its corporate channel explaining the service and illustrating how it works. In addition, press releases have gone out in English, French and German, and the carmaker has received widespread media coverage, including on Bloomberg, CNN, CNET and Gizmag.

So far, the company hasn’t promoted the capability via its social channels, and a spokesperson hadn’t responded to an inquiry about paid media by press time. (If we receive additional information, we’ll post it here.)

Volvo announced its testing of such a service in February of 2014 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.