Who worked on the XC60 project? Part 3
Here now is the final round of VCNA employee videos.
Enjoy!
Dan
Teresa
Anders
Who worked on the XC60 project? Part 1
As with any company larger than a few people, we have a manager that facilitates our work and there are those of us that do the work. Cars don’t just arrive here and then are sold to our retailers. There are many people spending many hours (many beyond their 8:30 to 5 hours).
Volvo has a very flat organization. Mike orders cars, Theresa handles logistics, Jay and Orlando do accessories, Greg is our EPA guy, and Trevor does retailer training and more. Probably everyone here has had a part to play in getting the XC60 project done.
So rather than write about who did what, I surprised them all with a quick, “So what was your involvement with the XC60?” question and stuck my Flip camera in front of them. All that you see here are uncut, one take interviews. What is interesting is the sincerity of accomplishment they all share. While all these people are my colleagues, they are also my friends. I’ve worked with many of them for their whole time here at Volvo. Even more heart warming is to see children of co-workers working here and taking larger roles in our organization. Well they are not really children any longer, but you get the point.
I’d like to start with Doug Speck, our CEO, and then, in no particular order, bring you the people in our company that did what was necessary to make the XC60 happen.
More interviews to come next week. Stay tuned.
Good weekend to you,
Dan
And now, the videos:
Doug Speck
Jordan
Jay
Volvo City Safety will be at NCAA Final Four this weekend in Detroit
Car Body Side Panel Stamping Technology
This came out last year, and I’ve been waiting for a good time to spring some interesting technical stuff on you guys/gals. This came from Corus who is one of our suppliers for steel stampings. Corus is second largest steelmaker in Europe and ninth largest in the world and on their home page, as of this writing, they proudly display our XC60.
Body side panels – one of the most complex and challenging components to manufacture due to surface quality finish and formability requirements – for the new XC60 crossover model.
As part of the company’s commitment to offer added value services to its customers, Corus engineers from the company’s Product Application Centre (PAC) in IJmuiden. They worked closely with Volvo during the critical tool buy-off and home line tryout stage for the XC60 bodyside panels to help Volvo better understand how the steel performed during press shop processes.
Using the new Argus system, Corus was able to suggest improvements to the tooling set up to help significantly reduce press shop set-up lead times.
As with previous Corus strain analysis systems, Argus combines expertise in 3D measurement technology with materials knowledge to help OEMs confidently process today’s modern automotive steels.
Using Argus, Corus engineers measured bodyside panels to check the robustness of the pressing and fed back the first results to Volvo engineers, within hours as opposed to days, significantly reducing the time and resources required for successful tool tryout.
In addition, the information gathered by Corus’ engineers using the Argus system can now be used by Volvo to assess any future potential changes which may be required in the production of the bodyside panels, for example if new grades of steel are considered for introduction during the XC60’s current life cycle.
Another key benefit of the Argus system over more traditional methods of strain measurement is that it is easily portable and can be deployed and used on site in the Volvo production press shop.
Jamie Howles, Support Engineer, Corus Strip Products IJmuiden said: “With the growing use of high-tech steels in today’s automotive press shops, it is increasingly important for carmakers to better understand how steel blanks will deform and flow as they are pressed. This is particularly important for large and complex components such as bodysides.”
Mr Howles continues: “OEMs are also increasingly under pressure to find the right balance between quality and time. Through the use of unique strain analysis systems like Argus, which combines accurate measurement of 3D geometry with the latest forming analysis techniques and materials expertise, Corus is able to offer carmakers the ability to reduce lead-times during the tryout stages resulting in a ‘right first time’ approach in the production of critical stamped parts. We are delighted to support key customers like Volvo to offer this added value service.”
Interesting how many people are involved and how deep technology goes for just making a simple side panel.
Good week to you all.
Posted in General, XC60 General | 3 Comments »Graphic Man
So I’m sitting here, going through email and I open one from George Acorn over at www.swedespeed.com about a guy with an old 245 wagon with a little over 300,000 miles on it and he wants to know if we want it for our car collection. No, not really. That’s kind of middle age mileage for our cars, so, yes lots of miles but come back when you get close to Irv Gordon’s numbers (2.7 million).
BUT that got me thinking about how 245′s were our work horse Volvos in those days, a big box on wheels. Amazing that today, they still command good money for used ones. I suggested Craigslist, sure to be snatched up rather quickly. Anyway, the only down side to that car was the air conditioning system. Our friends in Sweden never understood why we needed A/C, or more accurately one that would suck out quarts of humid water, send chills down our spines with frigid Arctic air for hours on end, while blasting across Texas in mid-summer. Story goes we put Swedish HVAC engineers into a 245 wagon and sent them across Death Valley one ‘warm’ summer week. Told them we’d meet back at the ranch for cool ones when they had enough. That convinced someone that Sweden wasn’t the best place, in those days, to engineer A/C for our cars. They went to Harrison – suppler to General Motors – to work on our upcoming 700 series. Oh, that car was wonderful.
Ok, where is this going? We’re getting to Graphic Man’s story. How did we get from here:
Volvo 240 – around 1980
To here:
Environmental Concept Car – 1992
To here:
XC60 – 2010
So, how did this change come about? We have to go back to the Environmental Concept Car (ECC, 1992) for this one. Doug Frasher, José Diaz de la Vega, Geza Loczi and others from Volvo Monitoring and Concept Center (VMCC) in California headed up a project, well, best if we let Doug explain:
“Gary Fitzgerald was the guy who designed (DJ: Interior Designer) the layout in the ECC and it was based on the work done he and others had done for our G0 (G-Zero project -1991). This was the internal project that we did here which became the basis for the ECC (car). It was a very extensive project aimed at developing a proposal for how Volvo should meet the proposed California ZEV (zero emission vehicles) mandate. In hindsight now almost all of our conclusions have proven to be prophetic.”
Prior to G0, VMCC was already working on design expressions for HVAC interface controls. Gary added a unique understanding of Human Machine Interfacing to this germinating pictogram. About the same time VMCC hired Brad Lohrding, Stanford educated industrial designer who specialized in interaction design. Brad helped to identify the sound logical basis for this concept. The idea was to create “ease of use of self evident controls and displays” according to Doug.
From Doug, “At the time (1990-1) iconic design was coming into vogue in the sense that designers were feeling that the best way to communicate a function was to be very literal with the hardware (buttons) form and graphics. If air is pumped by a fan, directed through a duct, toward a person, then the buttons should literally look like a fan, a duct and a man. This idea was then refined graphically down to simple symbols. It is also fair to say that the electronics suppliers facilitated this as they allowed for buttons which could easily be made in any shape, size, with any graphic appliqué and with light emitted from within or piped from a hidden source.”
“After ECC (car) the mission became to achieve the appropriate influence in our real products. The adoption into real product, the graphic man was well liked by the ergonomic responsible engineering guys in Sweden (Staffan Herz) and to refine it for production they enlisted Brad. Brad spent a lot of time with them to secure the basic concept. The execution of the concept into the center console user interface was a long and tumultuous development,” according to Doug. In the end, from idea to concepts to design mock-ups to ECC, to production, lots of really smart people were involved. Doug said it wasn’t easy, apparently many meetings, discussions occurred before everyone signed off on graphic man.
“So with that, the S80 (1998) was to become the first product to employ the graphic man,” concluded Doug.
BTW here’s what ECC interior looked like:
And today’s XC60:
Check out these really good XC60 videos too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b8ABCjZmRw
Posted in Volvo History, XC60 General | Comments OffWhat is a Premium Crossover?
I think six years ago, or maybe just a few years ago, that would have been a tough question to answer. Who would buy one? Why would someone want one?
While Americans seem to be slipping back to wanting big cars, even after last year’s 4 Buck Chuck gas prices, there might be a growing trend to think smaller. Mentally, what size fits your needs? Ok, so we want something different than a sedan and a wagon just doesn’t seems to express our style, but an SUV is too big. What’s left? Gosh, how about a Crossover. But Crossovers seem to have been neither fish nor fowl, something that is wagon with extra capabilities and rugged styling, or a sports sedan with extended back (Shooting Brake), or puffed up sedan. Frankly, some are/were just down right bazaar (a.k.a. ugly) hunks of metal. I know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So, that still leaves us with trying to define a Crossover.
A Crossover, IMHO, should be off-road capable – not rock wall climbing but with power and brainless traction to get you in and back out on what is commonly called ‘maintained service roads.’ Oh, good joke. What is the difference between two-wheel drive and all-wheel drive? The distance you have to walk out (thanks Ron S.). We make our all-wheel drive platforms very capable, but there are limits (read the Owner’s Manual). We’ve driven XC70’s up in Alaska, from Anchorage to Prudhoe Bay – in February (Edmunds.com) , and down in Baja, Mexico in dead of summer (Edmunds.com) . Would I do it again? You bet, but only with good preparation and with the same group to share the pain. Anyway, Crossovers should get good ground clearance, good traction control and roll-stability control systems.
Crossovers might be the next generation of station wagons. Probably more so than just another version of SUV’s. Yes, they might look like an SUV, but they share more in common with wagons. Still, a full size SUV, one that seats five adults and a couple of kids is more mini-van than SUV to most buyers. SUV‘s seem to have been the transition from mini-van to something different. There’s an old saying here on this side of the fence, we never drive what our parents drove. American buyers have gone from station wagons to mini-van’s to SUV’s and now the creation of a Premium Crossover segment.
Here are some reviews from our media launch. Tough group of journalists who, over the years, have driven darn near everything and heard all the talk about the newest and greatest. Then again, you can, and probably did, Google XC60 so this might be old news.
Edmunds.com
The Auto Channel 1
The Auto Channel 2
Also, check out this Brisbane Times article on reducing insurance premiums for XC60 drivers in Australia.
Posted in XC60 General | Comments OffVolvo Announces Pricing of the New 2010 XC60
The following is Volvo’s press release announcing pricing of the 2010 XC60. Check it out:
San Francisco, Calif. (Jan. 29, 2009) Anticipation is growing as Volvo Cars of North America, LLC, (VCNA) today announced pricing of the exciting new 2010 Volvo XC60 T6 AWD small premium utility. With a starting price of just $37,200* for the well-equipped XC60, buyers will have it all: Class-leading safety, stunning design and unrivaled driving dynamics. The new Volvo XC60 goes on sale this March.
The XC60 is Volvo’s entry into the growing small premium utility segment. Features such as leather seating surfaces with a power driver’s seat, SIRIUS satellite radio (with complimentary six-month subscription), hands-free Bluetooth connectivity, HD Radio technology with USB and AUX ports are all standard. As a special introductory offer, the unique Panorama moonroof will be offered at no charge. Customers may also opt for Volvo’s DVD-based navigation system with integrated back-up camera and two new colors: Lime Grass Green or Terra Bronze.
Continuing Volvo’s quest as a pioneer and leader in vehicle safety systems, the XC60 introduces a new world’s first — City Safety — as standard equipment. City Safety is a driver-support system aimed at preventing or mitigating collisions occurring at speeds of 19 mph or less.
The new Volvo XC60 is the first production expression of Volvo’s new design DNA. As a crossover, it artfully blends a dynamic mix of two car styles. Down below, the unmistakable, immensely capable XC pumps up its muscles creating a strong athletic body that is mated with high ground clearance and large wheels. Up top the flowing lines create the sporty charisma of a coupe.
The 3.0-liter turbocharged T6 engine is based on Volvo’s naturally aspirated 3.2-liter inline all-aluminum six-cylinder that was introduced in the Volvo S80 in 2008. The T6 delivers 281 horsepower with torque of no less than 295 lb.-ft., combining for best-in-class performance. Maximum torque is available from just 1,500 rpm and remains on tap throughout the rev range. The result is swift acceleration and impressive passing performance. Volvo’s all-wheel-drive system with Instant Traction is standard in the new XC60.
The XC60 is also included in Volvo’s recently announced Complimentary Factory Scheduled Maintenance program, which covers the first three years or 36,000 miles (whichever comes first). Complimentary Factory Scheduled Maintenance helps reduce the cost of ownership by providing customers the first four maintenance visits to their Volvo retailer as complimentary. A wide range of services are covered by the program, including oil and filter changes, cabin filter replacement, complete fluid level top-offs and a check of the vehicle’s on-board diagnostic system.
The 2009 Volvo Cars model lineup includes the award-winning S40 and its wagon counterpart the V50; the award-winning XC90; the sporty S60 sedan; the flagship S80 luxury sedan; versatile V70 wagon and rugged XC70 (Cross Country); the stunning C70 retractable hardtop convertible and the dynamic C30.
2010 Volvo XC60 T6 Pricing
MSRP $37,200
Destination Charge $825
OPTION PACKAGES
Climate Package $1,000
Heated front seats
Heated rear seats
Heated windshield washer nozzles
Rainsensor windshield wipers
Headlamp washers
Interior Air Quality System (IAQS)
Humidity Sensor
Technology Package $2,700
Dynaudio® Premium Sound System, Dolby Pro-Logic II® Surround Sound, 650-watt amplifier, 12 Dynaudio® speakers, rear seat headphone jacks, audio controls
Volvo Navigation System with Real Time Traffic, DVD map data and remote control
Rear Park Assist Camera
Collision Avoidance Package $1,695
Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC)
Collision Warning with Auto Brake (CWAB)
Distance Alert (DA)
Driver Alert Control (DAC)
Lane Departure Warning (LDW)
Convenience Package $1,000
Grocery bag holder
12V power outlet in cargo area
Front and rear park assist
Power tailgate
Homelink remote garage door opener
OPTIONS
Black Sapphire Metallic $525
Electric Silver Metallic $675
Maple Red Pearl $525
Barrents Blue $525
Silver Metallic $525
Lime Grass Green Pearl $525
Savile Grey Pearl $525
Terra Bronze Pearl $525
Dual onboard two-stage child booster seats with adaptive seatbelts and power child rear door locks $495
Dual Xenon with Gas Discharge Headlights with Active Bending Light $800
Blind Spot Information System (BLIS) $695
Personal Car Communicator (PCC) with Keyless drive $550
Nordic Light Oak inlays $295
Panorama moonroof n/c
*Price does not include destination charges of $825
Media Launch for XC60 – Jan. 19-30
We’re starting today near San Francisco, Sausalito area, to show U.S. media our XC60. We have four groups of about 30 journalists in each group, meeting with us to go over details about our newest Crossover. This starts with presentations by out lead safety guy Thomas Broberg and Global Project leader Lars Blenwal, both from Volvo Car Corporation in Sweden, along with U.S. project manager Mike Cottone and Volvo Monitoring and Concept Center (in California) Doug Frasher and our VP Marketing and Product John Maloney. Of course we have our colleagues from VCC in technical support to handle vehicle logistics and support staff from U.S. to keep us all on schedule. James Hope, in our PR group started working on this over a year ago. Huge undertaking. He’s much more organized than I, so we’re rather certain this will work perfectly.
Our day starts bright and early with a 6 a.m. wake up and 7 a.m. testing of City Safety system, then off to about 250 miles of driving. We head North out of Sausalito, along the coast, then back inland via Healdsburg and head South to our base. This kind of event gives media an opportunity to meet with our design/engineering/business team, basically to pick their brains about what we are doing with our XC60. In our daily business, we rarely have all those involved with a project, like XC60, at one place for one time. Thomas is working on future safety systems, Lars is starting to think about his next project, John is working on advertising/marketing magic. While our focus is XC60, media always manage to ask about our future and where we are going, what we’re building, what’s the next car.
If you have any questions about the XC60, send them over and I’ll corner those guys for you.
Here’s some photos of what happened on our first day:
Briefing meeting: James Hope, leading everyone through the agenda for next two days. Details, details, details.
All dressed up: Very early morning shot, around 6:30 a.m.
Inside the XC90 support vehicle. I like the aluminum metail plate treatment.
This XC90 support vehicle has more travel miles than most cars get in a lifetime. We use it in all our launches around the world.
Doug Frasher was the exterior designer for XC60. He started here at Volvo with the Environmental Concept Car (1992) and has been instrumental in how our cars look today.
At 7 a.m. getting lined up for City Safety testing.
James Hope (VCNA PR) and Thomas Broberg, Senior Safety Engineer (VCC), waiting for the sun to come up, looking out at San Francisco
XC60/XC90: One journalist wanted to see what the difference is between both cars. Rather interesting shot.
Who was the first person in the U.S. to buy an XC60?
Jane Irish from New Hampshire. Jane, a long time Volvo owner, test-drove our XC60 at Merrimack Street Volvo during a From Sweden with Löv tour stop and decided it fit her needs perfectly. “My lease [XC70] expired in April this year and I wanted something that was smaller than your XC90 and higher [seating position] than my XC70.” Seems she was following us from day one on the XC60 Concept and just needed to see it in real life.
Guess we met her expectations. Jane’s first Volvo was a used 240, which ended its life on a snow covered road accident, not Jane’s fault, with 240,000 miles on it. Next up was our 740 Turbo wagon. At our New Jersey office we often called those sleepers—especially when it sported a manual transmission. Sweet intercooled four-cylinder engines. Anyway, her last ride was our 2005 XC70.
I asked why she buys Volvo’s. Safety (dumb question on my part), but up next was styling. So we can have safety plus styling rolled into something that’s ‘just right’ in size and performance. Jane chose the Cosmic White XC60 with the Sandstone Beige interior. Nice combination. I like Terra Bronze because it sort of matches my wife’s old XC70.
She said about City Safety, “The test drive and not hitting the brakes [letting CS take control] took some getting used to.” In real world situations, she’ll either know to stop or be distracted which is when CS takes over. As an insurance agency owner, I think she sees the benefits of this kind of automatic safety system in helping to reduce vehicle damages and personal injuries.
She wanted to know if I could get her XC60 to her any quicker…good try Jane. They should start to roll in around March ’09.
And now for something completely different: December in Sweden is Glögg and Ginger Bread making time. These recipes came from our PR Media Site Manager – Lena Pettersson over in Sweden:
Glögg (Mulled Wine)
6-8 tumblers, 15 minutes prep time
1 bottle red wine
1 dl cane sugar
1 cinnamon stick
2 cm fresh ginger
4 aniseeds
5 cloves
1 orange in thin slices
Mix all ingredients in a saucepan. Heat carefully on low and do not let boil. Let sit for 5 minutes. Serve.
Ginger Bread Cookies (hard)
Makes approx 200 pc
300 gr butter
3 dl sugar
3/4 dl syrup
2 eggs
2 teaspoons bicarbonate (baking soda for us less chemically inclined -dj)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ginger (dry)
1 teaspoon ground clove
1 litre wheatflour (approx. 600 g wheat bread flour – dj)
Stir fat and sugar little at the same time. Stir syrup, eggs, bicarbonate and spices down as well. Add the wheatflour and stir. Let the dough rest in the fridge for 1-2 days. Bring the dough out and work it smooth. Roll it out thin. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Take out the biscuits with pastry cutters and put them on cold, buttered baking sheets or baking paper. Bake them in the middle of the oven about 5 min. Cool the biscuits on the baking sheet. Serve.
(Ginger bread is delicious to eat with some blue cheese spread, but don’t do it in advance – the biscuits will soften)
(As another friend pointed out, you can always hit up that Swedish furniture store and buy Glögg mix and Ginger snaps…dj)
Posted in XC60 General | 1 Comment »Hejsan!
Hi, or as a Swede would say: Hejsan, which is kind of like “Hi you.” I’m Dan Johnston, I get to work at Volvo and I’m not even Swedish ☺
How about we start with a Swedish language lesson:
God morgon = Good morning (sounds like ‘good moron’)
Tack = Thanks (tock)
God afton = Good afternoon (good often)
Volvo Bil = Yes, our Volvo car (beel)
Now is an exciting time for all of us at Volvo—we’re launching a new car, our XC60. It’s been a long journey from the concept phase to seeing a real live XC60 rolling down our highways. On an aside—did you know that in Latin, “Volvo” means “I roll?” Good story for another time. What’s awesome, is witnessing the delight on peoples’ faces when they experience the new XC60. I’m telling you, those smiles do wonders for our Volvo souls.
My plan is to use this new blog to update you on what we’re doing over at Volvo, from details on how the launch plans are rolling along to how people are feeling about the XC60. You maybe never thought about how a new car is brought to life, but we’re experts on that sort of thing. There are years of work before the first sheet of metal is formed into a fender. Hundreds of Volvo people, worldwide, contribute their expertise to creating how the XC60 will look, drive, feel, help protect you, impact our environment and even how it smells (great story there about our ‘nose team’).
We’ve just begun traveling around the U.S. showing the XC60 to people like you on our From Sweden with Löv Tour.
The tour gives folks a first look at the XC60 so they can see how we translate design language through metal, glass, fabrics and interiors into something uniquely Scandinavian. The best part though, is where you get to hop in and ride in this beauty. People will get to experience City Safety, which is a miraculous auto-braking feature that comes standard with the XC60. It is a world first—a standard feature that works to help prevent low speed frontal impacts.
We have a car that stops itself…fantastic!
More later. I have to get back to real work. But if you have any questions about the XC60, drop us a line. We always Löv to hear from you. Ha (short for ‘see you later’).
