Lynk & Co is a Chinese startup vehicle manufacturer that most of the public probably won't have heard much about yet, but that's likely to change in the future after the company announced plans for a new model and its second crossover to be sold in Europe in 2020.
The company is a sister brand to Volvo as it has the same Chinese owners, and the new model it has just announced is currently called the 02, which is the third model the brand has announced. Somewhat confusingly, the previous model it revealed was called the 03, which is a sedan. Not too much about this new model has been divulged yet, but it's obviously a small hatchback of some sort with more than a hint of crossover thrown in for good measure.
The Lynk & Co brand will officially launch in Europe next year in 2019 with a young urban audience identified as its target market. Interestingly though, the company's boss insists the main competition for the fledgling brand will be ride-sharing services such as Uber rather than other vehicle manufacturers.
This is because the company intends to offer electrified models through a subscription-based system and using a combination of city-based and pop-up shops as well as direct online sales instead of a traditional dealership network.
At an event in Amsterdam recently, the company's boss Alain Visser said the target audience were "people who don't want to own cars," and went on to add "Plenty of people love cars, but don't want to own one."
When questioned about actually selling to such an audience, Visser told the UK's Autocar publication: "We've done so much research to see that this will work and that people will go for this model. All the information is that it's a pretty resounding yes. Of course, if you ask our engineers they'll say our competitors are Lexus and Audi, from a technology point of view. But from a brand point of view, it's beyond the car industry."
The Lynk & Co 02 will be built at Volvo's production facility in Belgium, and it's probably safe to assume it will use Volvo's compact modular platform and powertrains.The company insists it will only be producing vehicles with electric powertrains in Europe, but hybrids are also a possibility in certain markets around the world.
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