Spirit 43 - Volvo Construction Equipment

“A lot of our customers certainly think of us as Volvo.”A crucial first point of contact for customers.What does 1946 mean to you?Perhaps you remember it as theyear when the United Nations first met?The year when World War II was officiallydeclared over, when Hungary and Italybecame republics, or even as the yearwhen golfer Ben Hogan won the first ofhis nine Majors?For Volvo Construction Equipment, itmarked the start of its relationship with its first everdealer, Swecon. And that 66-year relationship, thelongest of any Volvo Construction Equipment dealer, isstill going strong today. Not, of course, that either partyexisted under its current name when the relationshipwas first formed.Volvo Construction Equipment’s rootsactually go back as far as 1832, when entrepreneurialengineer Johan Theofron Munktell moved to Eskilstuna– still home to Volvo Construction Equipment’soperations today – and set up a workshop there.Swecon’s story, meanwhile, goes back almost as far, to1880, when Svenska Lantmännens Riksförbund (SLR),an umbrella group of local farming associations inSweden and today simply known as Lantmännen,was formed.PART OF THE FAMILYToday, though, Volvo Construction Equipment and Swecon, which wascreated by Lantmännen in 1999 to act as an exclusive ‘mega-dealer’ for Volvo inSweden, are closely bonded together. “It’s a very strong link,” says Swecon MarketCommunications Manager Fredrik Rigö, “It is as if we’re part of the family. For onething, our head office is actually located in the Volvo Customer Centre in Eskilstuna!”SPIRIT44