Volvo Wants You to Pick Up Your New Car in Sweden — and You Should

• Volvo offers an Overseas Delivery Program for American customers.
• You get to see how Volvos are built, as well as experience the World of Volvo exhibit.
• Best of all, it's free. But you have to actually buy a Volvo — this offer doesn't apply to leased vehicles.

Volvo has offered its Overseas Delivery Program — or OSD for short — for years but never put much effort into spreading the word. The company recently expanded the program, and I recently got the chance to go through the entire experience from start to finish — well, without actually buying a car. I'm here to tell you firsthand that it's awesome. If you're buying a new Volvo, you should definitely do it this way.

What exactly is Overseas Delivery?

As the name suggests, OSD allows American customers to order their next Volvo and come pick it up at the company's global headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden. If you're anything like me, you're already wondering how much this costs. Quite surprisingly, it doesn't cost anything.

In fact, customers who opt for OSD actually get a 5% discount off their car's suggested retail price in addition to a great list of perks. Volvo will fly you and one guest to Gothenburg from anywhere in the U.S. in premium economy and put you up in a hotel for two nights (three if you already own a Volvo). During your time in Sweden, you will take a tour of the factory where the cars are built, eat at one of the best restaurants in the city, and explore the brand-new World of Volvo experience center.

After your time in Sweden is up, you can choose to explore Europe in your new car, as the company provides 15 days of car insurance during your travels. But you can add more time if your trip extends beyond that. When it's time go home, you can return your vehicle to a list of preselected ports all over the continent for it to be shipped back to the States. In most cases, the car will arrive about six to 10 weeks later, depending on where you live.

I chatted with Michael Walter, senior manager of retail programs for Volvo, and asked him why the company does the program, presumably at a financial loss.

"It's all about loyalty for us," Walter said. "Customers who participate in the OSD program are more than 90% likely to buy another Volvo afterward." Walter also told me it's not uncommon for customers to come back and do OSD again. And when they do, it's all but guaranteed that they'll spread the word, which is how the program has grown organically over the years.

"This year we'll do almost 1,000 overseas deliveries, and we hope to expand that even more in the coming years," Walter said. In the increasingly difficult luxury car space, this is a solid way for Volvo to build a larger customer base, especially one that's enthusiastic about its products.

Here's what the Overseas Delivery Program is like

Pro tip: Do the OSD program during the summer months because, as stunning as Sweden can be, this native Californian was struggling in the November cold. I have never claimed to be brave when it comes to weather, and Scandinavia put me in my place rather quickly.

Even so, you'll have fun right from the start. I've been lucky to tour many car assembly plants during my career and it's always an exciting way to see what makes a car manufacturer unique. Volvo is proud of its Swedish heritage and teaches you all about its history while you weave through the factory on a fun little tram with a tour guide. Volvo doesn't allow photos during this portion, but you'll see the different parts of the manufacturing process and wave at plenty of friendly factory workers along the way. I assume the ones I saw were more excited about it being a Friday afternoon than seeing a random American wearing too many layers of clothes.

The real excitement starts at World of Volvo. This place is a truly world-class facility that showcases spectacular interior design. It's an easy way to kill a few hours wandering through the various exhibits and installations. Even the complimentary lunch at the on-site cafe is surprisingly good.

At some point during the day, Volvo will do your official vehicle delivery in a private area of the building that's set aside just for OSD. A specialist will walk you through every detail of your new car with some built-in opportunities for photos too. It's a very clever way to make purchasing a "'normal"' car feel much more special, like you're getting something exotic.

There's one major drawback — for now

Truthfully, there are very few drawbacks to participating in this program. You do have to actually purchase a vehicle; Volvo does not extend any part of the overseas experience to lease deals. But the bigger bummer is that the program is currently limited to gas-powered cars.

Customers can choose the OSD option on the XC40, XC60 and XC90, in addition to the V60 and V90 wagons. That means all of Volvo's most exciting electric stuff is off-limits, including the highly anticipated EX30 and EX90. Because U.S.-spec cars use a different charging port than European-spec models, there are currently limitations on how to make everything work. Volvo seems optimistic that it will be able to remedy this situation soon via an adapter.

There's also talk about expanding the options catalog to include things not available in the U.S. market. "We plan on offering options that are currently specific to Euro-spec cars in the future, like color combinations," Walter told me. With such a mad craze around vehicle personalization these days, expanding the offerings to customers would be a no-brainer way of enhancing the program's appeal — as if a free vacation in Sweden wasn't already enough.