Heels and Wheels
Palm Springs, Calif. was the ideal location last month for the very first Heels and Wheels, a media event dedicated specifically to women automotive journalists and manufacturer representatives. With its beautiful views and sun drenched landscape, we knew the C70 would be the perfect vehicle to bring for the group of more than 20 journalists… but maybe we didn’t realize just how much of a hit our convertible would be. The biggest complaint we heard was that it was always out on the road!
We were one of 11 vehicles the group of journalists got to test over the course of the event, and there really was a great mix of vehicles to fit a variety of needs. We all met up in L.A., paired up, and started the two hour drive to Palm Springs. Note to self: next time this girl from Jersey needs to remember to pack sunscreen when heading to the desert… in a convertible.
Once we got to P.S., the nitty gritty testing began. It wasn’t all just highways, though. There was also some real world testing like simplicity of Bluetooth cell phone pairing, stuffing shopping bags in the trunk, car seat installation ease and let’s not forget buckling in Fido. All things you probably do in your daily life, but maybe what you wouldn’t expect from a typical automotive event.
Thanks to Christine Overstreet for arranging the event. The C70 and I had a great time cruising the streets of Palm Springs, hearing first-hand what women are really looking for when buying a car. After all, 62 percent of new car purchases are made by women — and women influence about 80 percent of purchases.
-Laura DiStefano
Fun Volvo Pics
We get some of the nicest pictures from our friends in the media. The two here are from Danica Laub and Alan Hasemeyer.
Danica used to work in PR at Mazda. She finally realized she was never going to be able to afford that ski chalet in Aspen working in the car industry. She picked up stakes and headed east. Along the way she had an adorable little girl. She’s the cutie you see below.
To help fund the Aspen home (which hasn’t quite happened yet), Danica started www.Lullabiesatrushhour.com. Volvo being Volvo, we were immediately attracted to her concept and gave her the use of a XC60 T6 R-Design for three months. It was kind of a semi-long-term loan. The picture you see is Danica’s daughter kissing her XC60 goodbye.
Next up is LeeAnn Hasemeyer who, along with her husband Alan (nice picture, Alan), recently purchased a gently used XC90. Lee Ann and Alan are the proud parents of Bradley Hasemeyer, who runs a fantastic site, www.gearpatrol.com, which focuses on all things cool. We recently asked Bradley to join us for the media launch of the S60. It was his first Volvo press trip and he did an amazing job of capturing the car on video.
Bradley says, “This is a picture of mom, well…being mom.” Trust us Bradley, we all know how moms can be. We also know moms are amazing in the kitchen and always dote on us when we have a cold.
Turns out LeeAnn and Alan have being racking up the miles in their XC90, taking trips to Alabama, Tennessee and Florida.
If you’ve got any cool Volvo pictures with your loved ones, send them our way. Tell us a little bit about the picture and maybe we’ll post it.
James
Posted in luxury, Quality of Life, XC60, XC90 | Comments OffVolvo Red Coats
We just had a nice comment posted on our New York Auto Show entry – from Chris Shultz. Thanks Chris.
For those of you who wonder how many employees work at Volvo, we’re a small company compared to probably 80% of car brands. We’re small enough that I’ve seen fellow employees marry fellow employees (I did), have kids (we didn’t) and watch those kids grow up and come to work with us at Volvo. Life is amazing.
Chris’ father, Bengt, is the Manager of Market Intelligence and Business Analysis (great title) in Rockleigh, and Chris is a college student living in Gothenburg, Sweden. During auto show season, Chris takes a break from school, along with a couple of other students, and helps us at the autos shows. He and his classmates answer thousands of questions from guests who visit our stand. Good group of kids.
When we launched S80, around 1998, we invited all our employees, globally, to visit our HQ in Sweden and learn first hand what our S80 was about. From warehouse staff on up…everyone. Probably 98% of those attending had never been to Sweden, much less out of their home country. When we arrived, we were greeted by Volvo support staff dressed in red coats. They were our guardian angels, helping people find what they needed and showing them where to go. They became known as Red Coats.
As we started upscaling our auto show presence, we added groups of Red Coats. Today, their Red Coats are gone, but their hospitality and warmth is not. Some have even come back to Volvo when they finished college.
Nice cycle – people helping people – it is what we are about.
Have a good weekend.
dan
Posted in Auto Shows, customer care, Quality of Life, volvo employee | Comments OffThe day crime dropped 90% in Sweden
Shown are 1973 144′s (thin bumper and door handles recessed) decked out in Police trim ready for delivery outside, I think, our Torslanda factory. I suspect all the shady characters in Sweden were running in fear when Gothenborgs Posten ran this photo. Thanks Ulf for letting us run this photo.
A Happy Ending
No one really buys a car expecting to get in an accident. Years ago I was talking to a car insurance guy about accident frequencies, ‘about once every 12 years’. I don’t even want to go there with thoughts on timing.
Here’s a story we just received. The accident was with our first generation C70 Convertible. This was the first time we used ultra high strength steel (boron treated steel) in our cars. Inside the ‘A’ pillar is a tube structure designed to keep the A pillar in place and when coupled with rear pop-up ROPS (like roll bars), they give the driver a good zone area that helps protect in a roll over. Also around the belt line is more of that steel to help create a caged structure. Yellow is ultra high strength steel:
My name is Kasey, and I am lucky to be writing this email. If it was not for my Volvo C70, I have no doubt that this would not be possible at this time. On Friday, January 21st, 2011 I was driving my usual route to work during rush hour traffic. I live out West, so of course it was 75 degrees and sunny, which for me means I am driving with my top down. Since I was traveling on a major highway, I was traveling at speeds around 70 MPH… when out of nowhere another driver moved into my lane. I swerved to avoid being hit by the other driver, and in upon doing so, my car went into a fishtail. I was not able to regain control, and my car veered off the side of the road, where it proceeded to flip 4 times, slide down the gravel embankment on the driver’s door, and then flip once more to land be back on what was left of my tires. Imagine my surprise when I opened my eyes and I was alive. Not only was I alive, but coherent. I was rushed to the hospital, were upon running all necessary test, the conclusion was that there was nothing wrong with me. Other than some bruising and muscle soreness, I just walked away from a high speed roll over with my convertible top down. To say the least, the doctors, police and ambulance teams were shocked to see that I was fine. There was one common theme that I heard over the next 2 weeks, and that was “Thank God you were driving a Volvo.” Everyone from my co-workers, to Facebook friends, to strangers I meet that hear my story, all believe that I owe my life to Volvo. I KNOW I owe my life to Volvo, and my children, my husband, and my family all thank you. How do you thank a car manufacturer for saving your life? I have no idea how to go about this process, other than to spread the word to every person I come into contact with that Volvo is the reason I was given a second chance. If not for your ROPS, this story would not be possible. I do not know if I will be able to afford another Volvo, but If I am, you just made me a Volvo customer for life.. I have attached photos of my car after the accident, once you have viewed these, I am sure you will agree that you have done nothing short of a miracle in saving my life. I want my story shared will every single employee at Volvo, so they will know I want to personally thank every engineer, every line worker and every office member that makes Volvo possible. I want all Volvo employees to know that the work they are doing today is saving lives. Please promise me that you will thank every single employee at Volvo and send them my heartfelt thank you.
dan
Posted in C70, customer care, Quality of Life, safety, Volvo Saved My Life | 8 Comments »Three Little Words
This Valentines Day do something with love for you family and friends.
dan
Posted in distracted driving, Quality of Life, safety, texting | Comments OffIrv Gordon (2.850 million miles on his Volvo) makes PBS Nova
I can tell you, Irv gets more interview coverage than just about anyone here at Volvo. I know he does at least two interviews a week with TV, print, or radio. He and his Volvo will, in couple of years, reach 3 million miles. He probably knows every good food stop in America.
Don’t miss this special feature, “Can My Car Live Forever?” airing January 26, 2011 on PBS.
“Irv Gordon, a retired science teacher from East Patchogue, New York, has managed to keep his 1966 Volvo P1800 going for four decades and over 2.7 million miles. How has he managed it, and can this recipe for longevity help the human body go the extra mile? Neil deGrasse Tyson visits Irv and takes a spin in his one-of-a-kind car.”
Posted in Irv Gordon, news, Quality of Life, Volvo History | Comments OffYou know, there are good and then REALLY good days
Jame Hope has been working with Champion Tools (they make ‘Jaws of Life’ kind of equipment) for, gosh, probably the last 4-5 years to provide them Volvo cars to rip apart (see http://www.volvoblog.us/2009/08/26/champion-rescue-tools-and-volvo/). First, he had to figure how to tell accounting, our customs people, and scores of others that what he was doing wasn’t easy, but today, it’s a piece of Swedish coffee cake.
Even with Volvo providing cars, there is more demand than we can supply from an increasing group of accident responder schools. So James, creatively thinking as always, wrote this to all US PR guys.
He’s good at begging and also a darn good writer.
___
Hi all, (meaning hello to fellow PR people – dj)
First things first: This isn’t a pitch and I don’t want you to even respond to me.
I only ask that you take 30 seconds from your very busy day to read on. What you do following this note has no impact on me or Volvo. It may, however, help a first responder save the life of one of your customers.
It is well known that passengers are better protected with each evolution of passenger compartment technology, and that this safety took a huge leap forward with the incorporation of newer metals and metal combinations that the industry is using today.
But because of this great leap in safety technology, firefighters are increasingly arriving on the scenes of serious accidents involving today’s modern vehicles and discovering that their existing vehicle extrication techniques and tools are inadequate. This can delay the time it takes firefighters to get victims (your customers) out of these vehicles.
There is more background below. However, I’d like to cut to the chase so you can get on that conference call. If you have a proving ground in the U.S. where cars are moldering away in the sun, never to be sold and set to be scrapped, the Five Star Extrication Academy will gladly take these cars off your hands at no expense. They cover pick-up, transport and U.S. Customs-approved disposal (along with supporting paperwork). It’s no muss, no fuss. If you’re interested, simply shoot an e-mail or phone Brain James with the Five Star Extrication Academy. He can be reached at: Brian James – Simpatico Communications – 415-312-8746 or skilledpr@yahoo.com. I’m sure you’re wondering if I’m working for Simpatico. Rest assured, I’m not. I’m gainfully employed at Volvo and have no affiliation with Brian or the academy. However, if you’re not sure you want to reach out to him, by all means call me. I can give you the skinny.
If you’re down with this idea it costs you nothing but a few e-mails and has the potential to gain some media exposure. I know this because I’ve been handling it for Volvo for the last couple of years and Volvo continues to provide vehicles to the academy and other fire departments whenever we can. The problem is I don’t have enough cars!
Now, if you’re still hanging on every word, please read on.
The real issue is that firefighters have no problem finding junk cars at the nearest salvage yard. But finding modern cars built with today’s safety systems are problematic. The older the car, the more likely you are to find one in the junk yard. But how many 2010 Volvo S80s are just lying around Bob’s Barnyard of Broken Cars? Not many. And the same goes for any manufacturer.
Two years ago, Volvo partnered with the Five Star Extrication Academy. The vision for the pilot Academy was to offer firefighter training officers a day-long, no-cost training program about and with today’s tough new vehicles. Firefighters would then use this training to help reduce the time to extricate victims of today’s vehicle accidents which often leads to improved medical outcomes for accident victims.
Because Volvo is all about preserving life, we eagerly joined this effort. In the first two years, Volvo provided over $750,000 worth of vehicles from our Arizona proving grounds to the Five Star Extrication Academy, vehicles that would otherwise have been discarded. The firefighter training officers who attended these academy classes were then able to share their knowledge with thousands of firefighters who rescue vehicle accident victims daily.
This two-year pilot met with overwhelmingly positive responses from firefighters and their departments, and received a good bit of positive local television and emergency services’ trade media coverage. But that was simply frosting on the cake.
Now, as a result of the pilot program, there are more than 80 large fire departments in the United States and three Canadian provinces presently that want to offer the Five Star Extrication Academy classes to their rescue personnel, including New York, Boston, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. Additionally, governments in Asia, Europe, and Latin America, including China, have offered to host this program for their national firefighting commissions.
Obviously, this initial idea to help save lives has blossomed into a global opportunity.
I just wanted to make you aware of the opportunity to support the growth of this training program for firefighters by providing test vehicles to this program. The growth of this program is only limited by the supply of donated five star crash-rated vehicles.
Best regards,
James Hope
Product Communications
Volvo Cars of North America, LLC
__
Kind regards,
dan
Volvo for Life.
XC90 – A Car for all Seasons
Volvo is about Life. What we build is from a Scandinavian culture that cares about people, I guess we could say a holistic culture. Our part in this culture is to help protect people inside and outside our cars during their most important and memorable events in their lives. The other day, we helped bring life into this world – here’s Ezra’s story. I wonder if Ezra’s birth certificate states: Place of Birth: Volvo XC90?
Check out an excerpt of the amazing story below from the Blooma Yoga blog.
Dan
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Mama Anna and her husband, Andy, experienced quite a birth last week, with Sarah Longacre as their doula-turned-baby catcher! Their third baby, this kiddo came quickly… in their Volvo SUV! Welcome to the world, Ezra Orion!
From Sarah:
Greetings!It is no secret that I love to encourage trust and wisdom when it comes to birth. So as I supported Anna as she birthed her beautiful baby boy Ezra under a full moon in the back of her Volvo last week, those words couldn’t ring more true. Anna and Andy were so calm, so focused and so trusting in every minute of their birth. My hands slowly helped to guide Ezra’s head as he made his way into the world and I have never believed in the miracle of birth more than I did that day.
Anna’s Volvo XC90
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To read the rest of the story and to view additional photos, visit the Blooma Yoga blog at http://bloomablog.wordpress.com/2010/08/02/blooma-birth-story-anna-ezra-wow/
Posted in customer care, Quality of Life, safety, XC90 | 2 Comments »A journey that started with a ‘Click’
On July 14, 2010, our simple life saving device, the three-point seat belt, will forever be a part of American history. The Smithsonian National Museum of American History will officially accept Volvo’s three-point seat belt into their collection. On that day, with a press event for media, business, government and Smithsonian officials, a little bit of Volvo will forever be a part of Washington, DC.
About 18 months ago we called the Smithsonian to ask if they were interested in acquiring our three-point seat belt for their collection. After all, 2009 would mark the 50th anniversary of this invention. Calling them was kind of like rolling dice and hoping you connect all the dots in one easy phone call. I should know that by now, nothing is ever easy. As luck would have it, the Museum was working on a collection of automotive safety “firsts” and our seatbelt would be a key acquisition for the collection. However, first we had to document and they had to verify that we were first. Then we had to prove it was fitted as described, and that it was standard in our cars. What we finally agreed upon was that after 1961 all our cars were fitted with that seat belt.
Originally we were just going to give them a seat belt but since the process took so long, we finally had a belt mounted to a mock-up PV 544 driver side seat with floor pan, seat attachments and ‘B’ pillar for auto shows. We couldn’t authenticate the seat or belt came from a 1961, which is what the Smithsonian needed, so we bought a ’61, took out the original equipment and mounted it on a display stand. The Smithsonian then back-tracked the original car to its previous owner, authenticated that it rolled out of the factory with standard-fitted three-point belts, and I thought we were good to go. I felt like I was watching CSI, they were so thorough in their background searching. Thanks to a long time friend and Volvo restorer, Alan Prosser (www.alanauto.com) who tracked down what we needed, got it packed and sent it down to our Rockleigh headquarters. It turned out that finding a good, original seat that’s 50-years old was a tougher task than I could have ever imagined.
For over a year, our display sat, packed, ready to ship, on our loading dock, right next to our trash compactor. Yeah, can you feel the fear I had, almost daily, that someone would consider it trash and we’d be back to first base. I thank the Swedish Viking gods for protecting it from our compactor.
Finally late last month we got the call to ship. The display was repacked, shrink wrapped and sent on its way with kisses from all of us.
I doubt that Nils Bolin would have ever thought his invention would save more than 1 million people’s lives and that it would become standard in all cars, mandated by law in 1972. Through the years, Nils has received many awards and accolades, but I think this one simple donation would stand out as his crowning achievement, aside from personal thanks from people whose lives were saved by his invention.
Today we like to say there is a little bit of Volvo in all cars.
This July, we will be heading to Washington to present our three-point seat belt to the Smithsonian, a very good day for Volvo.
Dan
Below is our two-point seat belt. I think we sold it just for couple of years. When I had my first Volvo, ’58 444, there were mounting holes for seat belts, sold as an accessory. I bought a set, installed them and my father refused to use it, and I refused to drive him anywhere.
Good video of our seat belt’s history: http://www.youtube.com/volvocarsnews#p/u/53/xQFrBX84RVY
Posted in Awards, customer care, distracted driving, news, pedestrian safety, Quality of Life, safety, seat belt, Volvo History | 2 Comments »
