ROCKLEIGH, N.J. -

Auto Remarketing recently learned that Volvo Cars North America has a pre-owned car line manager to replace Diana Lidgett, who is moving over to Volvo’s Southern region to serve as its distribution manager, effective Dec. 1.

Taking on the pre-owned position is Steve Golow, who has been with the company since 1995, most recently serving as market manager for the Northwest.

Golow — who also assumes his new post Dec. 1 — spent some time Thursday talking with Auto Remarketing about his goals for the position, his background in the business, how Volvo plans to overcome CPO challenges and more.

Getting His Start

For Golow — who grew up in Toronto — working in the auto business was practically natural, given the fact that his father — Henry Golow, who is now retired — worked for General Motors of Canada, serving at a GM truck store owned by the automaker.

“So, growing up in it, obviously, we were ingrained in it a little bit,” he said. “I got involved after high school working with a Lexus dealer and really realized it was my passion to be in the car business, but I really wasn’t sure at what level.”

Before and during his college days at Georgian College — the Canadian “sister school” to Northwood University — he had retail jobs with Lexus, Nissan and GMAC in Canada.

After college, Golow realized he wanted to be on the corporate side of the business and joined the team at Volvo in 1995, taking a post with the company in Canada.

“It’s exciting. It’s always changing,” he said when asked what he enjoys most about the car business. “We’re not selling a bar of soap that’s always a bar of soap. We’re selling cars that are changing. We’re already talking about product that’s coming out in 2014–2015 that is very much different than even what we’re selling today.”

Goals, Challenges in New Post

As he prepares to step into his new position next month, Golow delved into what he hopes to accomplish; as well as the challenges that await him in the CPO market.

When asked what excites him most about the new position, Golow said it’s helping to take the automaker “to the next level” in CPO.

He acknowledges the used supply situation could be rather tricky for the next year or so, but “as we round the corner, I’d like to put some building blocks in place to make things easier for the dealer network” so that when used supply does get back on track, Volvo and its dealer are ready to succeed.

“I think the biggest challenges are trying to make sure the dealers have a way to be profitable, giving them a channel with used cars that they can make profit on so that they are prepared, at least with Volvo, for this next onslaught of vehicles," he noted.

“And as you can imagine, between the financial downturn a few years ago, there’s not a lot of new cars that were sold; and hence, there’s not a lot of used cars today,” Golow continued. “So the challenges are getting them enough inventory at the right price in the next couple of years to really keep that channel going for them.”

Golow went on to note some of the ways for dealers to overcome these supply challenges.

Flexibility, he said, is important for dealers to keep in mind as they try to secure used vehicles for their lots.

“I think the bigger dealers have embraced the fact the fact that ‘Hey, I can’t always buy cars right in my local market. I need to go outside the box. If I’m in Seattle, I need to buy cars in Pennsylvania and ship them out here. And I’m not going to make as much money per car, but if I do the volume, it’ll make up for it,’” Golow shared.

“Other things are aftermarket products, F&I products on CPO and pre-owned cars … trying to give them some other Volvo-authorized products that they can sell that we back, so that the consumer is confident that Volvo backs it and it’s a good product,” he continued. “And it gives the dealer another piece of the puzzle to sell in the pre-owned market.”