Another Story with a Nice Ending – Volvo Saved My Life
Two “Saved My Life” stories in one week is unusual. Maybe the internet does make our world smaller. 
dan
S80 2001
On April 25th at around 10pm, my wife Meghan was returning home from school when a raccoon darted in front of her while in the high speed lane. Meghan tried to avoid the raccoon to no avail, and ended up in the median of the highway only to try to return to her lane and hit a drain culvert and lost control of her vehicle. Meghan eventually crashed straight into a tree beyond the breakdown lane. This crash was so severe that the first responding Massachusetts State Trooper on the scene came to my residence the next day to see if my wife was alive as this was the worst single car accident he had seen in 26 years of service.
Meghan sustained a laundry list of injuries, but most importantly is alive and will see a complete recovery. I cannot thank Volvo enough for making cars that save lives!! My wife and I are the proud parents of a 2 1/2 year old and an 11 month old. If not for your vehicle, our children would have had to grow up their entire lives without their mother.
I want to add that this is not the first Volvo to save Meghan’s life. She was involved in another accident 2 to 3 years prior in which her then 2002 Volvo S80 was side swiped by a young woman who had run a red light. I also have pictures of this vehicle if you would like. I currently drive a 2002 XC70 and also had a 1994 940. As you can see, we are “Volvo for Life!!” and will be buying an XC 90 in the near future. On behalf of my wife Meghan and my two children, I want to thank Volvo for saving her life!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! The site will not let me attach the photos, but I am sure that you will want to see them. Please contact me and I will be sure to get them to you.
Matthew
AutoWeek – Ruling the Roost
Colorado is really beautiful. I can see why people move there and stay. We were out in Gateway, which is in the western part of Colorado, and couldn’t have found a better place to play with our XC.
dan
Posted in XC Adventure, XC60, XC70, XC90 | Comments OffTale of a Pig’s Nose
A recent posting on http://www.facebook.com/VolvocarsUS led one of our social media staffers to ask about our first SUV we have in storage. So, with a fresh cup of coffee and peanut butter filled pretzel puffs, here is the Pig’s Tale.
In 2000, I had money to find cars for our historical collection. By the time I bought Hogster (actual proper name is Sugga, Swedish for pigs nose since that is what the official name for TP21 Military Staff car became since it does look like a pigs nose), I had rounded up our PV4 and P1900. No one really knew VCNA had bought them, they just showed up in Rockleigh one day…surprise. Kind of better to ask forgiveness than permission kind of thing.
Anyway, I got word out to some Volvo owner friends that if they could find a good Sugga, to let me know. In the mean time there was one parked on Piermont Road, about 1/2 mile from my office window. I talked with its owner for more than five years and he was just happy to let it rust away. No idea where he got it or when, not the most friendly kind of guy. One day, I got a call from a Volvo owner in Phoenix, AZ about one that was in a used car lot. “Good condition,” like anyone would know otherwise. I bought it and shipped it to Rockleigh. When it arrived, it was another asking for forgiveness kind of buys. It was in good condition – even had the original olive green shovel and carburetor snorkel for fording streams. Even had a bicycle rack – I’ll get back to that in a moment.
So we played with it, driving it through the woods behind our office, showed it at Volvo Open House events, and then parked it with our collection at FAPS at Port Newark. Around the summer of 2001, Soren Johansson (who used to work in our PR group) asked about Sugga. Oh, I thought here I go with my career. “We want to borrow it.” SURE. We spent a small fortune getting it to almost 100 point car, it looked like the day it was born in 1957. All that was missing was its radio, and to this day, we can not find a set. Someone in Sweden said they were classified military equipment. Okay.
We took it to the Detroit Auto Show in January 2002 to be part of our XC90 launch to media. Let’s back up a few months. I got a call from our folks who put on auto show events, “Would you drive it on stage in Detroit?” Heck yeah, that’ll be a hoot. “Would you wear a Hawaiian shirt, shorts and sandals?” Yeah….okay. “How about being under a car cover, over Sugga, for 30 minutes?” Now realize Detroit is really cold in January, and trying to find a shirt, shorts and sandals anywhere outside of California or Florida in December is nearly impossible, and sitting under a car cover, this was going to be interesting.
So we painted (temporary peel paint) her bright Canary Yellow, threw on a 10’6″ surfboard, nice Cannondale off-road bike and she was ready to go. Hans-Olov Olsson (nick named H2O) was our CEO back then. He came on stage and started talking about how he is so proud to be here today to show the world our first SUV, that it was a masterpiece of technology, that it could go anywhere, anytime. Now you have to realize Swedes can be rather conservative, and maybe not a funny as some people, clearly Hans-Olov was being very serious at this point. So after a few minutes, they pulled off Sugga’s car cover and I drove up on stage, this being Volvo’s very first SUV. The place broke out in laughter and cheers.
Launching Sugga’s brother, XC90, was a complete success. Today, it still looks powerful in a very Scandinavian way and is still a strong seller for Volvo.
dan
Posted in Volvo History, XC90 | 1 Comment »
XC90 Test Roll
This just in: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2011/5/prweb8419083.htm . It ranks our XC90 as the least expensive car to insure. I’d have to say when this car was designed, more than 11 years ago, the intention was and continues to be about accident avoidance and occupant protection.
With the worlds first Roll-Over Protection System (ROPS), we developed a whole new way to help avoid a roll-over accident. With ROPS gyro based technology, it could sense when an XC90 was getting close to rolling over. ROPS applied the brakes to one or more wheels to modulate rolling action. Sure, there are times when rolling is unavoidable, like hitting a curb sideways, or driving into a ditch, but that’s where XC90′s Ultra-High Strength Steel (UHSS) reinforcements in the hood help protect occupants, along with inflatable side curtains.
When we launched XC90, one journalist took to heart our ROPS system. Without our knowledge, he hired a couple of professional drivers, rented an unused parking area and tried to roll over his loaner car. He wrote:
Author(s): Royal Ford Date: October 12, 2002 Page: D1 Section: Automotive
“We put the XC90 through a tight slalom course that in the past, even moving as “slowly” as 40 miles per hour, has lifted a rear wheel or put other SUVs over on two wheels in tilts that only trained drivers could fix. The everyday motorist would have rolled in these situations. The XC90 would not even go up onto two wheels, and the everyday motorist could have been doing what we were doing.”
“We put the XC90 through an emergency lane change (picture traveling at 60-plus miles per hour and suddenly spotting a dead tanker truck 55 feet ahead of you). Slam the ABS brakes, steer around the obstacle, and move back in front of it after passing it. Not easy for an SUV to handle. The XC90 did it with ease.”
“Flat out, this is a car that will save lives.”
The proof is in the pudding.
dan
Posted in Awards, safety, XC90 | Comments OffXC Adventure – Race Across the States
Taking adventure to the extreme
Our range of XC vehicles, the XC60, XC70 and XC90, have been perennial best sellers globally since their respective introductions (in the XC90′s case, that was 2002). And for years we’ve talked about the buyers of these vehicles living life to the extreme.
Next week we are asking a few of our media friends to live the luxury adventurer lifestyle while behind the wheel of our entire XC range. Our group will depart from West LA on Monday, May 16, bound for Gateway, Colorado. We are hoping they will all arrive in one piece Tuesday afternoon after more than 850 miles on the road. Along the way they will be put to the test; to see just how adventurous they can be.
I can’t reveal the details (some of our guests are readers of this blog) but it’s best to think of the Race Across the States as a combination rally, scavenger hunt, extreme sports event that will put our guests in some amazing places and situations.
While on the road, our guests will be posting to this blog. They will provide travel logs, photos and I’m sure some very funny prose (they are professional writers after all) along the way. I hope you’ll tune in.
James
Posted in XC Adventure, XC60, XC70, XC90 | 6 Comments »
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 OffIs 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 »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 »
