Another bit of good news
The following graph came from Edmunds.com news service today. I haven’t seen this kind of positive strength in the market, or for our brand in years. Of course the economy took a nasty swipe at everyones sales, yet I think what is encouraging is our car sales seem to be heading North – with all fingers crossed. In our business, what is a new product today, takes many years to get ready for production. It’s not like we can turn off or change directions overnight, so there has to be faith in what is planned and that there will be a market for what we make. I think with S60 leading and other styling work we are doing, we have good plans for an even stronger future.
Perhaps the biggest change will be how we handle our contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. Our decision to expand our four-cylinder range is right in step with the kind of responsibility a manufacturer must take to reduce CO2 emissions.
It’s going to be an interesting ride as we keep rolling along.
“Other small makes with the largest percentage gains included Saab USA’s 42.7-percent improvement (although volume remained meager at 4,614 units), Porsche Cars North America at 28.1 percent (on 22,644 total sales) and Volvo Cars, which improved 26.8 percent to 52,155 sales through September,” according to Edmunds.com.
Here’s the full article: http://www.autoobserver.com/2011/10/auto-sales-2011-everybody-gaining-except-japan.html
Stay warm…it is far from warm here.
dan
Posted in Electrification, fuel efficiency, news, S60, Volvo Sales | 1 Comment »S60 is really hitting its stride
Doesn’t seem that long ago we posted this blog entry:
http://www.volvoblog.us/2011/02/28/monday-mornings-can-be-sooo-nice/
On October 25, 2011, Consumer Reports released an overall summary of their 2011 readers survey on Reliability. Here’s what they said about our S60:
Mixed results from Europe
European models continue to be a blend of reliable and not so reliable vehicles. Overall, European vehicles’ reliability is slightly below that of domestic models. Of the 58 European models for which Consumer Reports has sufficient data, 37 (64 percent) scored average or better in predicted reliability.
Among European brands, Volvo ranked the highest at 10th overall. It was helped by the redesigned S60, which was above average in its first year.
Consumer Reports Annual Auto Survey Ratings are unrelated to Consumer Reports vehicle road-test results, but are a key factor in determining whether or not Consumer Reports recommends a car. CR only recommends models that have performed well in tests conducted at its 327-acre Auto Test Center in Connecticut, and that have average or better predicted reliability based on its annual survey. In addition, vehicles must perform at least adequately in government or insurance-industry crash and rollover tests, if tested, in order to be Recommended by Consumer Reports.
Full reliability history charts and predicted-reliability ratings on hundreds of 2012 models, plus a list of what’s up and what’s down, best and worst models, and a comparison chart of brands can be found online at www.ConsumerReports.org, in the December issue and in the latest Consumer Reports Cars publication, Best & Worst New Cars for 2012 ($7.99 U.S./$8.99 Canada), on sale November 15, 2011 everywhere magazines are sold.
Go buy their annual report, and see for yourself what we’ve been up to these past few years.
Not bad for a brand new car. As of last month, we sold 15,799, putting S60 way ahead of all other other cars by sales volume. We just came back from a long trip and funny how many people looked at our Vibrant Copper S60 T5. Even a BMW owner gave us a thumbs up. : )
dan
Posted in news, S60 | 4 Comments »Fuel economy – one step at a time
I just got back from a large gathering of automotive journalists in Elkhart Lake, WI, and now I’m sitting in the airport waiting for our delayed flight home. About 50 manufacturing folks and a good 100 journalists were there, to drive each others cars and meet/greet for a couple of days.
I was test driving a Smart car and the guy in front was doing no more than 30 mph and coasting to a stop in a Honda. The guy I was with said the Honda driver is a ‘hyper mileage driver’. Interesting. He coasts to stop signs, shuts off his car and coasts into parking lots, well you get the idea. Granted, he probably gets fantastic mileage but you can imagine how unsafe his habits are to himself and others.
Fuel economy isn’t about hyper mileage driving, it’s about being safe and fuel efficient. Here is one way we are working towards that end.
dan
Volvo Car Corporation tests flywheel technology
- cuts fuel consumption with up to 20 percent
A light, cheap and very eco-efficient solution that makes a four-cylinder engine feel like a six at the same time as fuel consumption drops with up to 20 percent. This autumn, Volvo Car Corporation will be one of the world’s first car makers to test the potential of flywheel technology on public roads. The company has received a grant of 6.57 million Swedish kronor from the Swedish Energy Agency for developing next-generation technology for kinetic recovery of braking energy in a joint project together with Volvo Powertrain and SKF.
“Our aim is to develop a complete system for kinetic energy recovery. Tests in a Volvo car will get under way in the second half of 2011. This technology has the potential for reducing fuel consumption by up to 20 percent. What is more, it gives the driver an extra horsepower boost, giving a four-cylinder engine acceleration like a six-cylinder unit,” relates Derek Crabb, Vice President VCC Powertrain Engineering.
60,000 revs per minute
The new system, known as Flywheel KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System), is fitted to the rear axle. During retardation, the braking energy causes the flywheel to spin at up to 60,000 revs per minute. When the car starts moving off again, the flywheel’s rotation is transferred to the rear wheels via a specially designed transmission.
The combustion engine that drives the front wheels is switched off as soon as the braking begins. The energy in the flywheel can be used to accelerate the vehicle when it is time to move off once again, or to power the vehicle once it reaches cruising speed.
“The flywheel’s stored energy is sufficient to power the car for short periods. However, this has a major impact on fuel consumption. Our calculations indicate that the combustion engine will be able to be turned off about half the time when driving according to the official New European Driving Cycle,” explains Derek Crabb.
Since the flywheel is activated by braking and the duration of the energy storage – that is to say the length of time the flywheel spins – is limited, the technology is at its most effective during driving featuring repeated stops and starts. In other words, the fuel savings will be greatest when driving in busy urban traffic as well as during active driving.
If the energy in the flywheel is combined with the combustion engine’s full capacity, it will give the car an extra boost of 80 horsepower, and thanks to the swift torque build-up this translates into rapid acceleration, cutting 0 to 100 km/h figures significantly.
Carbon fibre for a lightweight and compact solution
Flywheel propulsion assistance was tested in a Volvo 240 already back in the 1980s, and flywheels made of steel have been evaluated by various manufacturers in recent times. However, since a unit made of steel is large and heavy and has rather limited rotational capacity, this is not a viable alternative.
The flywheel that Volvo Car Corporation will use in its test car is made of carbon fibre. It weighs about six kilograms and has a diameter of 20 centimetres. The carbon fibre wheel spins in a vacuum to minimise frictional losses.
“We are not the first manufacturer to test flywheel technology. But nobody else has applied it to the rear axle of a car fitted with a combustion engine driving the front wheels. If the tests and technical development go as planned, we expect cars with flywheel technology to reach the showrooms within a few years,” says Derek Crabb. He concludes: “The flywheel technology is relatively cheap. It can be used in a much larger volume of our cars than top-of-the-line technology such as the plug-in hybrid. This means that it has potential to play a major role in our CO2-cutting DRIVe Towards Zero strategy.”
Posted in Environment, news, Technology | 4 Comments »50 years since first P1800
Our friends up at Hemmings Motor News put up some nice photos of an 1800 ES ( later to morph into C30) up on their website.
“Swedish firm Caresto, led by former Volvo engineer and specialist builder Leif Tufvesson, chose to mark the 50th anniversary of the debut of Volvo’s P1800 sports coupe with an exciting resto-mod show car that they dubbed the P1800 GT.”
Interesting that they used an early ’egg crate’ grill on a ’72 ES, and the little air scoop near windshield is from around ’62. Car looks nasty.
Thanks Mark for your Hemmings Motor News piece.
dan
Posted in news, Volvo History | 2 Comments »Is an 11 year old design – timeless?
Around 1995, in our Rockleigh office, we had drawings of concepts that VCC was working on. One was an SUV. Then one day the drawing was gone. No one fessed up to taking it, it was just ‘gone’. Rolling forward to 2000 when we
showed XC90, I’ll be darned if that wasn’t it..I mean the one on that poster that no one knows where it went…it’s here.
Looking back, and in a sense forward, and listening to Peter Horbury, our design chief, talk about how he, and other designers strive for timeless design, XC90 seems to be heading in that direction. The car has such nice lines, it’s hard to imagine it being penned over 11 years ago, that today it has that strong Swedishness of Volvo. It’s a design that doesn’t ask you to define what the designer was thinking, it’s just one comfortable looking piece of steel.
Considering the technology we introduced with XC90 dates back to 2001, in my opinion, it is still one of, if not the safest SUV being offered. Before the car was launched we pow wow’d how to differentiate our SUV from all others, considering we were about the last to market with one, someone said ‘roll it over’ – so we did. I watched one test, at 35 mph it rolled 3.25 times, what noise.
Amazing how much noise it made, kind of gave everyone goose bumps watching it roll.
Only had one glass crack and aside from being really beat up, the doors remained closed and we could open them up. Actually the only real damage was when the fork lift tried to roll it back on all tires, it punched holes in the doors. So where am I going with this?
James just came back from Mudfest. Held annually up in Seattle, Washington by the Northwestern Automotive Press Association, this event determines who has what it takes to tackle…you guessed it MUD. This year, lots of mud was on hand. Anyway, James called from the SFO airport, waiting for his connection flight home. I could tell he was bummed out, “It’s an old SUV, still looks good but there was so many more newer designed models…we’ll never win.” Told him to go buy a loaf of sourdough bread and get on his flight home. We know technically it’s built tough, it’ll go just about anywhere, it’s all about Volvoness, but knowing journalists, they like the ‘whats new SUV’ factor and, well XC90 is not whats new.
James wrote this press release:
Volvo XC90 still impressive after all these years
2011 XC90 takes top honors in its class at annual NWAPA Mudfest
Irvine, CA (April 4, 2011)- The Volvo XC90 has been awarded yet another accolade at the annual Northwest Automotive Press Association (NWAPA) Mudfest. Already a two-time defending SUV of the Year champion (2002 and 2003), the Volvo XC90 was named best Luxury SUV by the group at its recently held 2011 event.
Up against stiff competition from BMW (X3), Infiniti (QX56), Mercedes-Benz (R350 BlueTEC 4 MATIC), and Land Rover (Range Rover Sport), the XC90 3.2 AWD R-Design impressed the Mudfest jurors with its tremendous value, sporty good looks and seating for seven.
“It’s great to see such a grizzled veteran of the Mudfest competition still considered relevant today,” said Doug Speck, President and CEO of Volvo Cars of North America. “To go up against competitors, some of which weren’t around when the XC90 went on sale in 2002, and still walk away with a category win illustrates why the XC90 remains one of our top sellers. I couldn’t be happier.”
This year, Mudfest was held at the DirtFish Rally School in Snoqualmie, Washington. Twenty six of the leading automotive journalists from the Northwest drove and evaluated 20 different 2011 SUVs and crossovers during the competition.
The Pacific Northwest is true SUV territory and remains one of the nation’s top sales markets for the entire line of Volvo’s XC vehicles. During the one-day event, the XC90 was tested vigorously both on- and off-road. Pavement tests allowed the jurors to once again experience Roll Stability Control, the world-first anti-rollover safety system introduced in the XC90. Today, such systems are mandated by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) for SUVs and similar vehicles. Off-road, the XC90 shined with its advanced Instant Traction all-wheel-drive system, which places power to the wheel with the most traction.
I’d say it’s a timeless design.
Have a great week.
dan
Posted in Awards, news, safety, Volvo History, XC90 | 1 Comment »Infographic: Cell Phone Laws While Driving
Great article over at Edmunds about state by state cell phone restrictions. A few weeks ago, I wrote I’ve put my texting and phone use on hold while driving. Just did a 1200 mile round trip drive and didn’t text once. Ok, I did answer my phone a couple of times, but where I’m normally answering/calling while driving, I didn’t. I just kept thinking of an accident where I hurt or kill someone while using a phone and my stomach gets bunched up in knots. What a horrible thing to do to someone.
http://www.autoobserver.com/2011/03/infographic-cell-phone-laws-while-driving.html
dan
Tip of the day: sign up for their news feed. 
Hey! It’s all about baseball
First, I’m not really a baseball kind of guy, guess cause I was never coordinated enough to get a bat to meet a ball, much less remember who I was suppose to throw it to, but this is one cool app.
At Bat 2011, which launches on Opening Day, March 31, will provide exclusive and reliable access to live MLB games for listeners and viewers wherever they are with their iPhone or iPad. Subscribers can watch live regular season games and also access enhanced features such as overlays and controls to pause or rewind games, catch highlights or have immediate access to breaking news.
After downloading the app, fans will receive the first month of service for free courtesy of Volvo (a full year normally costs $120).
Here’s your link: www.mlb.com/volvo
Play Ball!
dan
Posted in news | 1 Comment »Monday mornings can be sooo nice
You know…Swedes are strong willed folks. When they set their minds do to something it gets done. For quite some time we have been working on improving vehicle quality. Oh, not that what we did in our past wasn’t good, we just knew we could do better. While this isn’t a resting point for us, it is conformation that what we are doing is showing in today’s Volvo’s.
Embargoed until 1:30PM EST February 28, 2010
Consumer Reports Automaker Report Cards 2011
(excerpt from their press release)
European cars generally perform well in Consumer Reports road tests, but many have confusing controls and inconsistent reliability. Volvo is the only European make with an above-average reliability score.
In Consumer Reports ‘Grading the automakers‘ Volvo’s overall score was 68, the top player Honda having a score of 74 - not that far ahead of us. Volvo’s standing was fourth place, ahead of Ford, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and few others. Ahead of us were Subaru and Toyota. Given the leader was just 6 points out in front, well, we’re all rather happy with what we are doing and where we are going.
Go buy their April issue and you be the judge.
Now doesn’t that bagel and coffee taste better? Mine sure does.
dan
Posted in General, news | Comments OffGood Article on Crash Test Dummies
Just think of the abuse these poor sods take on for us carbon based uprights. Every so often I’ll ask one of our Swedish engineers if we can ‘borrow’ a test dummy, usually I need a child one for an event showing how best to protect children. I’ve always gotten the same response, “‘You’re nuts…you know how much one costs?” Well the problem is, yes, I do know, and yes, it’s probably a little nuts to ask for one.
In our test laboratory in Sweden, we run physical and computer tests. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Yet over the years both have become key tools at giving us good data on what happens in a test crash.
http://www.roadandtrack.com/special-report/smarter-crash-test-dummies
dan
Posted in crash test, news, safety, Sweden | Comments OffUPDATE: Irv Gordon on History Channel/Nova January 26
UPDATE: Irv’s PBS special has aired, and I’ve never seen Irv look so good. Amazing what HD did for him!
Irv … you looked marvelous. ‘Never means NEVER’ for anyone asking, even Duane.
Through chuckles, Irv told me: “When the engine rebuild was finished, I went Duane’s shop to pick it up and it wouldn’t start. Duane adjusted the points and that worked. I drove it on the first test drive.”
I asked him some years back to let me driver it …you know how a Labrador twists his head when give a command he doesn’t understand, well, that’s what Irv did to me. Now you understand – “Never!”
Watch the full episode. See more NOVA scienceNOW.
___
Irv just sent this over. For those who don’t know Irv Gordon, he has nearly 3 million miles on his 1966 Volvo P1800.
___
I will be on a PBS station that carries NOVA…here in NY it will be channel 13 and channel 47 (History Channel) on my cable system. The broadcast is at 8:00PM…but you will have to check for NOVA on your system. The date is Jan 26.
I hope it won’t be anything embarrassing! LOL
Irv
___
So lets boost Nielson ratings for Nova – at least for the evening of Wednesday, Jan. 26. PBS interviewed Irv while he drove a Nova crew around Long Island last year. Should be fun to watch.
dan
Posted in Irv Gordon, news, Volvo History | 5 Comments »
