Volvo Cars will take responsibility for the commercial and brand operations of its sister-brand Lynk & Co in Europe, marking a decisive step in Geely Holding Group’s accelerating strategy to integrate its brands and scale more efficiently on the continent.

The move, announced on March 30, gives Volvo Cars control over Lynk & Co’s European sales, distribution, and retail footprint, while Geely Auto retains responsibility for product development and global operations. Lynk & Co itself remains a distinct brand within the group.

Geely is systematically reorganizing

At first glance, the decision appears to be a logical next step in Lynk & Co’s transition away from its original subscription-led model toward a more conventional retail structure.

But placed in a broader context, it reveals something bigger: Geely is systematically reorganizing its European operations around integration, cost efficiency, and clearer brand positioning.

That shift has become increasingly visible in recent weeks. Geely is bringing its core brand into Europe to target the mass-market EV and plug-in hybrid market, while consolidating engineering activities under a new European technology structure. Together, these moves show a group aligning engineering, product strategy, and, now, distribution.

Within that framework, Volvo’s taking over Lynk & Co’s commercial operations is effectively the missing piece. For Lynk & Co, the shift also reflects a more fundamental reality.

Poor customer feedback

While the brand entered Europe in 2020 as a disruptor, with subscription models, online sales, and urban ‘club’ locations, its execution proved far more challenging than its concept.

Customer feedback across Europe consistently points to difficulties not with the cars themselves, but with the surrounding ecosystem. On Trustpilot, Lynk & Co holds a very low rating of roughly 1.3 to 1.5 out of 5, with a large majority of reviews at one star.

Recurring complaints mention “incompetent subscription management”, poor communication, delayed billing, unclear charges, and administrative errors. Some users report cars effectively getting “lost” in administrative processes or lacking visibility during servicing, while others cite inconsistent or slow responses from customer support.

That execution gap also appears to have evolved. Early adopters in markets such as Belgium – as we were ourselves –  initially experienced a relatively responsive, community-driven approach, closely aligned with the brand’s original vision under then-CEO Alain Visser.

Following his departure in 2024, however, some users and online communities have pointed to a perceived decline in service consistency and administrative follow-up.

Struggling to keep pace

While such feedback remains anecdotal rather than formally documented, it reinforces a broader pattern. As Lynk & Co attempted to scale beyond its early adopter base, its operational backbone struggled to keep pace.

In short, Lynk & Co’s main bottleneck in Europe was not the product, closely related to Volvo technology, but the lack of a mature commercial and after-sales infrastructure capable of supporting scale. That is precisely what the new setup aims to fix.

By plugging into Volvo’s established dealer and service network, Lynk & Co gains immediate access to a structured retail footprint and a proven after-sales system. That should not only improve customer experience but also resolve the operational inconsistencies that have accompanied its rapid European rollout.

Volvo targeting broader customer base

For Volvo, the benefits are equally tangible. The company can increase showroom traffic and workshop utilization while targeting a broader customer base without diluting its own premium positioning. Officially, Volvo stresses that both brands address different segments and are complementary rather than competitive.

At the group level, however, the strategy is clearer still. Geely is moving away from a loose collection of semi-independent brands toward a coordinated ecosystem.

The re-entry of the Geely brand itself positions it as a value-oriented volume player. Lynk & Co sits in between as a lifestyle-oriented near-premium brand, while Volvo remains the established premium mainstream pillar. Other brands, such as Zeekr, move further upmarket.

This layered structure only works if internal overlap is minimized and resources are shared efficiently. That is precisely what Geely is now implementing by integrating engineering, aligning product strategies, and consolidating distribution through Volvo.

And perhaps most importantly, it suggests that Geely has identified where Lynk & Co struggled most and is now using Volvo to fix it.