All Entries in the "VOLVO" Category
More Selfless: Volvo Issues Press Release Congratulating Honda Owner
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img Volvo
IT seems of late that there is a silent trend of corporate magnanimity ‘tween rivals that is surfacing in the public relations world.
We recently noticed Toyota’s nod to Chevy and this week Volvo has taken the unusual precident of announcing that one of its owners sent out congratulations to a Honda owner dubbed “Million Mile Joe” who with his 1990 Honda Accord passed, you guessed it, the million mile mark on his car’s odometer. Of course, that did give Volvo occassion to remind everyone that their happy owner – Irv Gordon of Maine with his 1966 Volvo P1800 – currently holds the Guinness record for three million miles.
“It’s delightful to learn of a fellow car fan who takes impressive care of his automobile,” Gordon said in the release. Indeed. Feels good to praise others.
Release to follow jump.
2011 Volvo Concept You
Concept You launch video presented earlier this year @ Frankfurt.
2011 Volvo Concept Universe
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: YouTube ::: 2011 Volvo Concept Universe
VOLVO needs a home run. The other sinking Swedish marque is the one whose foundations were for years cemented in safety and stolid practicality. Needless to say, there are fewer takers for cars sold only on safety and stolid practicality, particularly when ze Germans offer style, luxury, safety, and varying degrees of practicality. Hence Concept Universe.
Luxury only started filtering into Volvo ad copy in the mid 80s when leather interiors, heated seats, and sunroofs started getting honorable mentions alongside crumple zones and driver’s airbags.
Two decades on, this corporate video highlighting the 2011 Volvo Concept Universe doesn’t even mention “safety” once. Volvo’s “Universe” now focuses on luxury at the way forward. And clean Scandinavian design. The latter focus is funny given that the lead designer is a Brit with cockatoo hair… but we digress.
Whatever the case, the “I Roll” car maker badly needs a winning hit. Given that Concept Universe’s design is generic enough to be a concept from any European marque, this car isn’t that home run. But it is a promising step forward.
Volvo Celebrates 50 Years of the P1800
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: Volvo P1800
ALL of life’s best triumphs follow struggles. Indeed the story behind Volvo’s most iconic and most unlikely model is one of success in the face of multi-fronted adversities. Volvo is marking the P1800′s 50th anniversary this week. And the P1800 remains a rare sports car halo for a marque that has for the large bulk of its history promoted itself as safety-first. So, naturally, our story begins with a struggle…
Volvo’s Hiring
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img Volvo Cars ::: Volvo Hires 1,200 Workers
POLISH those CVs. Practice that pitch in the mirror. Firm up that handshake. Volvo’s announced that it’s ready to hire 1,200 workers – 600 of whom will be based in Sweden.
The accrual of skilled labor will happen over the course of a year and the new workforce will focus on R&D for alternative fuels and fuel efficiency. Keep in mind that Volvo did lay off 25,000 workers during the downturn and Volvo sales remain unsteady in the developed markets. Still – eyes on the prize, people. Eyes on the prize.
[NYT]
Silly Volvo Driver, You Just Drove off with the Wrong Girl
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: YouTube ::: Volvo C70 Advert
THIS Volvo spot for the C70 hardtop/droptop is almost, almost as silly as the nixed Chrysler Taster’s choice commercial. Only it’s less snarky in a generic European way. Alright, not really. But the guy does drive off in the wrong car with the wrong woman which is kind of the point. Silliness lasts for TRT of 1:02.
The Sweet Smell of Luxury: That New Car Scent
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img Land Rover ::: new car leather scent
VOLATILE organic compounds or (VOCs) are what account for most of that heady scent each and every time you step into a new car. Essentially, that new car smell is a perfume of air born molecules emitting from freshly applied glues, plastics, vinyls and, of course, leather.
For some, that new car – leather smell is a kind of aphrodisiac. Or at least was.
In an effort to be environmentally friendly, car makers are cutting back on VOCs as a way of preempting EU safety nannies; eager to levy taxes on anything deemed unhealthy or un-green.
The result is kind of sad for the auto aficionado as most of those blissful scents of new hide bound interiors are gone or subdued from contemporary cars.
Sigh. Let’s wind back the clock 10 years to headier times with lovelier bouquets. The following were the best new car leather scents in the biz.
6) Lexus
5) Saab
4) Land Rover / Range Rover
3) Volvo
2) BMW
1) Jaguar
Find yourself inside a new RX300 back in 2000 and the smooth hides seemed to embrace you in a buttery aroma so rich you couldn’t believe it wasn’t. And, in fact, you did salivate.
Saab’s 9-3 convertible and hatchback featured hides that awakened our nasal senses with tea-tree oil and perhaps a bit of eucalyptus. Sub. Lime.
Land Rovers and Range Rover came fitted with a thick musk as standard equipment which seemed to espouse the very essence of the great outdoors as catered for by Abercrombie & Kent. Decadent.
Volvo’s leather once emitted a luxurious perfume, so full yet zesty like the Saab. A V70′s interior was an uncommonly decadent space, considering the safety focused Swedish company that marketed its models to a decidedly pragmatic clientele.
BMWs through the 90s into the early 00s seemed to lace their hides with pheromones, particularly if you opted for special edition Montana leather packages. The electricity was in the air even before you turned the ignition.
But, by far, the finest scent ever produced for any automobile was the AutoLux hides produced for the Jaguar Vanden Plas (Daimler) by Connolly. Easily trumping Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Ferrari and vastly superior to the deluxe interior packages of the current XJ. Those piped hides emited a peerlessly rich, luxuriant bouquet that seemed to permeate life’s finest ingredients.
Picture it: reposing in the rear seat, leather soles meeting the soft cushion of deep pile Wilton carpeting, gazing through the stretched window framed in chrome and boxwood and breathing in the most heavenly automotive scent ever created.
Connolly should’ve bottled that essence and sold it next to Gio and Cool Water. Magnificent.
Does Volvo Have a Future?
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: Volvo Sale to Geely ::: img via TigerData / imcdb / dieselstation
ONE of the best lines to trip forth from the lips of an auto industry suit at a press conference came recently from Li Shu, founder of Geely, who told the attendant reporters that he saw Volvo as a “tiger” and that “[Volvo] belongs to the forest and shouldn’t be contained in the zoo.”
And you thought Volvos were just about passive safety cages.
Crucially, Mr. Shu added, “The heart of the tiger is in Sweden and Belgium [and] it’s paws should extend all across the world.”
This signals that despite plans to build a Volvo manufacturing center in the land of Mao, Volvo’s new Chinese owner recognizes that the Svenska marque needs to keep the Euro vibe by having some 390K+ cars built annually in Europe to maintain its quality Swedish image globally.
So, Mr. Shu’s comments were perhaps the most perfect words that he could possibly have chosen (though they were spoken in Mandarin, which nixed his chances for having a good internationally played sound byte).
But will Volvo prosper tomorrow when it has faltered for so long under FoMoCo? And what of this no more wagon business?
Bear in mind that two years ago, Volvo lost Ford nearly the same amount of money as its sale price today of $1.8 Billion. The “I-Roll” hasn’t rolled in black ink since 2005, when the profits of $377 million were trimmed like foamed milk off a frothy gross.
It’s going to take a fresh brew to reinvigorate the staid lineup – yet – here’s the clincher: there have been stories on the web that say that Volvo’s winding down its wagon business – particularly here in these United States.
If true, this is bad new bears for Volvo.
Despite the North American market’s apparent shift to crossovers being both real and taking more that its fair share of the wagon pie, there’s still that all important niche that everyone and their Irish Setter can identify with Volvo.
Hell, if you’re part of Generation Y and you were raised in the Northeast, your Mom drove a Volvo station wagon and the family 240/740/940/ or 850 was your first ride upon getting the all important license.
Indeed, yours piloted a sharp, black on tan 850 GLT Sportswagon to his driver’s test whereupon the inspector suggested I consider a BMW.
Wagons are to Volvo as the 911 is to Porsche; the Louvre is to Paris; and the knack for the bizarre is Lady Gaga. It’s the marque’s signature.
Importantly, Volvos have also lost their cubist edge in favor of bulbous, meaty flanks originally sourced to the first, un-hip S80 sedan. The response recently has been a flame surfaced design renaissance of a sort for the S60, C70, and C30 that would’ve made Bangle proud, if he still cared.
We’ll see how it pans. But in the mean time, let’s take heart that Volvo is about to be given a kick from the Asian tigers to perform so that it can perform like one.
Should Volvo Make a Convertible? Yes!
By Gunnar Heinrich
HOW I adored the original Volvo C70.
Perhaps it was Pininfarina’s masterful tailoring that silkened those Swedish curves. Or, maybe, it was Porsche’s rumored influence behind the spirited, turbocharged Inline-5 cylinder motor.
No, it had to be the polished scent of Volvo leather as it was tanned and oiled circa 1999.
Or – and this really could be it – it was summertime. In SoCal.
The weather was warm. And the coral blue on cream just seemed so perfect. When we pulled up to the Shutters in Santa Monica, the valet paid our ride an honest compliment after just tending to the tutto rosso F355 that had preceded us.
The C70 really was Volvo’s masterful coup.
And no one bought it.
Well, that’s not quite true. You do see a few of the 1st gen. C70s on the road, de temps en temps. But truly, between BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and even Saab, few considered putting $40K down on a Volvo convertible 10 years ago.
You bought a Volvo for safety. For family. For utility with comfort. Not for fun-in-the-sun. And so it was: the C70 languished in anonymity while BMW took orders for the 3er drop top.
The C70 -gasp- wasn’t even perfect.
Based on the original 850/S70, Volvo suffered engineering setbacks from the start; pulling on the convertible’s launch time and again like a seized caliper.
The power roofs failed. Often.
Those five pot engines leaked oil.
And despite the “Drive Safely” marketing, the loss in structural rigidity meant the C70s weren’t that safe.
Add salt to the wound, a decade on, there are so few examples that aren’t dog-eared from hard use. Generally, the first generation C70s lived thankless lives as rough ‘n tumble commuters.
Thankfully, neither poor sales nor defects stopped Volvo from producing a second generation C70 convertible and now a third.
Both penned by Pininfarina and constructed by Pininfarina’s unit in Sweden; the latest hardtop-droptops improved on previous foibles while reminding us that, yes, Sweden’s other car company is versatile, dynamic, luxurious and not just for hauling kids ‘n gear to practice.
Given the choice that people have in spending $40-$55K on a 2+2 topless tourer (would you like German or Japanese?), it’s right that Volvo makes a convertible.
Geely Buys Volvo; Production May Move to PRC!
- Volvo sale to Chinese Geely tests marque’s quality image
- Production rumored to move to PRC
- As globalization takes hold, will the Swedish image for quality and safety remain?
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG Geely Group
SWEDEN’S strongest “brand” (hate that bloody term) is about to have its Swedishness tested.
Since FoMoCo has announced Volvo sale to Chinese fridge maker Geely for a rumored $2 Billion, it’s being suggested from scholarly sects that the bulk of Volvo production will be moved to China.
One such comment came from a Professor Bailey from the Coventry Business School who told the BBC that in his humble-but-ultimately-professional-opinion R&D would stay in Goteborg but the majority of assembly would happen in the PRC.
This despite the fact that Professor Bailey’s native Jaguar still has the bulk of its cars manufactured in the UK despite Indian ownership.
Still, if such hypothesis proved to true and given that Chinese cars currently enjoy a public relations image for safety that’s as solid as coke can folding under a tire, there seems to be much for Geely to gain domestically and much for Volvo to lose internationally.
Particularly in its home EU market.
Frankly, it’s easy to see Volvo customers taking issue with a $40K luxury wagon that preaches safety and quality as its strongest suits when its assembled in a market that historically values neither commodity.
