Representatives of transportation, logistics, and truck industry from all over Europe, as well as colleagues from the Volvo Group, attended the official inauguration of Arrow Truck Sales Europe at an event held at the company’s newly built premises south of Berlin. The guest list also included representatives of Arrow’s owners; the President of Volvo Trucks, Roger Alm, and Senior Vice President Volvo Trucks Europe, Heléne Mellquist.
The event kicked off by Arrow employees welcoming guest in fourteen different languages. Andreas Gustafsson, Managing Director, highlighted in his speech how Arrow´s ambition is to play a role in better matching supply and demand on the European used truck market, and getting wide reach by utilizing digital tools and offering to do business in the customers own language. Instead of the traditional cutting the ribbon ceremony, the team had a more modern take to it; Roger Alm pushed the button to send out the company’s first newsletter, and Helene Mellquist double-clicked to launch a new feature on the company’s web page; a “sell your truck page“.
In 2018, decided to take the well-established used truck trading business in the US, Arrow Truck Sales, to Europe. The goal was to use the multi-brand concept of Arrow to explore new ways to sustainably match supply and demand on the European used truck market.
For Arrow Truck Sales, today’s inauguration is a milestone celebration of the success of its business model. The company is still in its start-up phase but has already sold trucks to customers in more than twenty countries, establishing itself as a true international trader.
The European location was deliberately chosen to be Berlin. “Our customers’ don’t need to drive to the Netherlands to get a good value for their money,” said Andreas Gustafsson, Managing Director at Arrow Truck Sales Europe. Arrow is currently located directly next to the highway A10 and only a one-hour drive to the Polish border.
Buying and selling trucks is a people business and, the motor that drives Arrow’s operation is its dedicated people. Arrow recruited used-truck professionals from all over Europe to work on the Arrow Project start- up in Berlin. Among them was Mikko Nevala from Finland, previously responsible for Volvo Trucks’ used business in Finland and, now the purchasing and sales director at Arrow Truck Sales. Around ten people currently work for Arrow Truck Sales Europe, a number Andreas Gustafsson hopes will double in a few years’ time. He encourages all European used truck professionals interested in participating in taking a new concept to the market to get in touch.
In addition, Arrow offers financing and insurance in several European countries. For this purpose, a financing expert from Volvo Financial Services sits directly on site in Ludwigsfelde.
Arrow considers the online strategy to be a critical success factor in the used-truck industry. That is why the company has launched its website, www.arrowtruck.eu, and is working on growing their online presence in used truck portals and other channels.
