SQ5 European Delivery
 

We just learned that the SQ5 is no longer availBle for European Delivery.

We were working with a great dealer here in Orlando, and drove the car a few times and specced it out through the build. About a week later we got a call from the general manager of the store confirming that the vehicle is no longer eligible for European delivery as they are moving production to Hungary and Mexico.

Honestly, the SQ5 was our second choice, after the Volvo XC60, as we were only looking for cars available for European delivery. The Xc60 moved product up to China and its no longer available for European Delivery. I know it seems impractical, but we really wanted to have that experience with a new car.

Has anyone been able to place a European delivery order in the last week or two for the SQ5?

Nope...delivery for me is in the best damn country on the planet... USA!

Well, your dealer seems to have been living under a rock. The production of the (S)Q5 line has already been moved to Mexico with the current generation. The last generation (S)Q5 was the last one built in Europe. European Delivery is only available on models that are actually built in Europe and for crossovers and SUVs there isn't much left. BMW produces their X models in the USA, Audi now produces their Q line in Mexico and Mercedes produces many of their cars in the USA as well, don't know specifically about their SUVs and crossovers, though. I think Porsche still makes the Macan and the Cayenne in Germany, so that might be an option. North America is the primary market for these types for vehicles, so all car manufacturers seem to be moving the production lines for these cars closer to the USA.

Nobody has been able to do European Delivery on an SQ5 since the new model. They are obviously not gonna ship the car to Germany from Mexico, just so you can pick it up there and then ship it back to Canada. Maybe they start doing Mexican Delivery :-).

You can do European delivery for the GLC, they make them in Bremen and Uusikaupunki.

Aren't they being built in Mexico?

Volvo moved the XC60 production to Chengdu. No longer available for OSD

I was in Munich a few weeks back at the BMW factory seeing the delivery of USA produced X model SUVs. They were being delivered to customers for the European market. Speaking to an American picking up his new X5 as part of the European delivery package he said that he was up for delivery costs as European buyers and the additional costs of getting the X5 back to NY. The reason for the Munich delivery was to spend 3 months touring Europe in his nice new X5.
Can't see why you would not be able to take delivery of a SQ5 in Ingolstadt if you are prepared to pay all the shipping costs.

Factory delivered is a foreign concept to me as no motor vehicles are produced in Australia, we rely totally of imports and have to pay dearly in choice, time and dollars.

Yep, I suppose you can have it shipped to Europe along with all the other (S)Q5s destined for the EU market and then pay for shipping to the US/Canada out of your pocket. My guess is OP will have to talk to AoA and the European Delivery department directly to make this happen. Most likely won't be eligible for the ED discount this way, either.

You guys down under don't have the option to do European Delivery?

There is the possibility for that but cost wise it is beyond any reasonable sense.
Being right hand drive this restricts us in licencing in Europe, our local regulations won't allow for Australian registration/licencing overseas, the shipping costs to get to Australia are huge and then we are hit with various taxes once it arrives.

I could swear UK customers can pick up their cars in Germany and since the Eutotunnel many Brits are taking their cars to mainland Europe and vice versa so LHR/RHD shouldn't be an issue. The shipping cost to the final destination is already included. If you buy a foreign car, it has to be shipped to your country anyway. So, the only difference with European Delivery is that the customer gets to drive the car in Europe for up to 6 months before it gets shipped to its final destination. I suppose your laws could have an issue with the car already being driven in Europe before imported and registered in Australia. Here in the USA, despite the car technically being used it is registered as a new car. My RS5 had 4000 miles on the odometer once it got here. I stayed almost an entire months in Europe. And just in case there is confusing, these cars are spec'd for their final country and not European spec cars. So they already meet all the regulations of the final country. But Europe allows these foreign spec'd cars to be driven for up to 6 months before they get exported.