Is Swedish automaker Volvo’s unsung perk too good to be true, or is it Europe’s best travel hack?

Everyone knows the capital city of Stockholm on Sweden’s eastern shore has earned its place as the seat of both modern Scandinavian sophistication and the sanguinary 17^th-century Swedish Empire. Perhaps no cultural institution illustrates the scale of this imperium as the six-story Vasa Museum. Named for the hulking warship that capsized just minutes into its 1628 maiden voyage, the meticulously restored vessel is a must-see marvel. (That is, unless you’re 18, on an AP European History field trip with your Connecticut high-school classmates, and knackered from hearing about Vikings all day. For our amusement, my friends and I made up a limerick about a “man named Viking Sam who never quite fit in.” It’s been stuck in my head for more than 25 years, so the joke is on me.)

Now mature and middle-aged, I appreciate this archipelagic, if slightly frenetic, city more with each subsequent visit. But Gothenburg, Sweden’s, marginally more laid-back Second City perched on the west coast? That’s nearly a no-brainer. Swap Vasa Museum for Volvo Museum, and you’ve booked yourself a free trip to Europe. All you have to do is buy a new Volvo: It’s part of a little-known program that allows customers to pick up their vehicle at the automaker’s Gothenburg headquarters and drive it around Europe for two weeks before shipping it home.

Blue Volvo Sport P1900 roadster at Volvo Museum © Josefkubes | Dreamstime.com

Volvo says about 1 percent of its U.S. customers take advantage of the Overseas Delivery Program, which allows them to shave about 5 percent off MRSP while enjoying the industry’s best-kept cheat code. The trip includes premium-economy, round-trip airfare for two and a two-night stay at one of nine hotels in Gothenburg, as well as a fine dining credit, European car registration, two weeks of temporary insurance and Swedish tolls. The program, offered free of charge but requiring a $6,000 deposit against the vehicle’s purchase price, begins with a tour of Volvo’s global headquarters and concludes with a choose-your-own adventure flair.

Customers start their Nordic journey with a guided tour of Volvo’s Torslanda factory, followed by a visit to World of Volvo, a state-of-the-art museum opened in 2024. After touring a century of Volvo cars – from the first production car in 1927 to the women-designed 2004 YCC Concept – visitors receive the keys to their new vehicle. After taking delivery, they’re free to continue their two-week road trip across the continent before returning their cars to one of nearly a dozen outposts spread across Europe to ship them home.

For the purposes of this story, I was given a white Volvo XC60 plug-in hybrid mid-sized SUV and let loose to tour Gothenburg’s scenic west coast — a gateway to more than 7,600 islands where you can hike, swim and indulge in shellfish. Visit Jubileumsparken, a sustainable waterfront park with a free public sauna built from recycled bottles and corrugated steel. Leave your new wheels at the ferry terminal parking area to reach the car-free southern archipelago for sea kayaking, cliff jumping and rustic trekking.

There’s no hurry to hit the road. The program is designed as less Grand Prix than grand tour, especially in Gothenburg, where a fika (afternoon coffee break) can stretch into the twilight hours.

Just don’t forget to stop and see the Vasa.