Car makers across the UK say test drives “remain as critical as ever”, particularly for new brands establishing themselves and those selling EVs, with which many buyers aren't familiar.
“The test-drive experience is really important. We want to make the process of buying a car fun again,” said Louise Hardman, head of marketing at Polestar. As a new brand, founded only five years ago, test drives are a key part of its approach - especially in the era of EVs.
“Buying a car is a big commitment, and we recognise the importance of giving people the opportunity to have that first-hand experience, especially if they’re new to electric driving and for us as a new brand,” Hardman added.
Last year alone, Polestar got more than 10,000 potential buyers behind the wheel.
It and others are moving away from using traditional showrooms as a base for test drives and instead are going where people are, with roadshows and pop-up test drive events in town centres and shopping centres. Taking place across the country, these events have gone from something of a novelty to one of Polestar’s key sales tactics.
Polestar doesn't have dealerships, just three ‘spaces’ in Birmingham, London and Manchester, which the remote events compliment.
Hardman said this helps the firm’s approach of wanting buyers to have all the information they need and without feeling pressured like they may do in a showroom. Buyers are also given an hour in the car on their own, when the average test drive length for other manufacturers is just 20 minutes, Hardman claimed. Potential buyers can even get a test drive car delivered to their home, along with a statistics-armed member of the team, increasing accessibility for the dealership-less firm.
Polestar’s parent firm, Volvo, has looked at similar ways of getting people into its cars, especially since the arrival of EVs, consumer director Nicole Melillo Shaw said.
She said a test drive can mean different things to different people. It could be the first time someone experiences a certain car, whereas for others it could be the final stage of confirmation that this is the car for them.
As a long-established brand, Volvo has seen a change in the landscape of test drives, with, somewhat surprisingly, a “huge increase” in requests in the past decade. Like Polestar, it also has a few pop-up locations - even one at the Eden Project.
Yet, other established brands, such as BMW, are sticking to a more traditional approach. It offers test drives either by booking online or heading to one of its 150 dealerships across the UK. However, what it does do differently is offer test drives of up to 24 hours.
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