Volvo Car Corporation 2009 in brief: A tough year with continued focus on environment and safety

A strengthened product program with a range of fuel efficient DRIVe products and the Volvo XC60 were well received in an otherwise challenging market situation. A number of successful sponsorship and communication projects were carried out - Volvo Ocean Race, Volvo team Polestar in the Swedish Touring Car Championship and Volvo The Game to mention a few.

"2009 has proven to be yet another fruitful year for Volvo Cars with best practices & lessons learnt that will be applied in 2010" "We are confident that this will continue to bring us closer to our customers and optimistic that 2010 will be yet another addition to Volvo's continued success stories,"

said Roula Beiruty, Marketing Manager for Volvo Cars Middle East.

Product News

The first official pictures of the all-new Volvo S60 were released, showing a sportier and more dynamic car than any previous Volvo model. The new Volvo S60 is the first car to be offered with Pedestrian Detection. The car will be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in early March 2010.

The all-new Volvo S80L, with an extended wheel base of 140mm, was launched in Beijing, China and production started in Chongqing.
The interior of the refreshed Volvo S80 has been made more driver-oriented, not least with a new steering wheel and upgraded instruments.

The new Volvo C30 has a refreshed front clearly separating it from the Volvo S40 and V50, and its character is emphasized by a wide range of options, including an urbane, bold accessory styling kit.

The new Volvo C70 convertible has been given a careful redesign of the front and rear as well as an increased interior exclusiveness of the materials and trim details.

The Volvo XC60 was named 2010 International Truck of the Year. The XC60 is the first vehicle to offer City Safety as standard equipment, a unique Volvo technology that can help the driver avoid frontal collisions at low speed. This marks the 20th award the Volvo XC60 has received since sales began in Europe in late 2008.

Environment

"DRIVe Towards Zero" is Volvo Cars' vision for developing cars entirely free from harmful exhaust emissions and environment-impacting carbon dioxide. Volvo follows three main tracks for reducing the environmental impact of its products: efficiency enhancement, renewable fuels and electrification.

A joint venture project between Volvo Cars and energy supplier Vattenfall will develop plug-in hybrid cars and an energy infrastructure. The project will research the wishes and demands from drivers, determine driving habits and establish how they want to charge their cars.

Safety

In the quest for the ultimate vision of an accident free traffic environment, Volvo Car Corporation's short-term target is that no one will be killed or injured in a new Volvo car by year 2020. In recent years, focus has shifted from protection to prevention and continuous progress is being made. New technologies in Volvo cars such as Collision Warning with Auto Brake and City Safety can warn and assist the driver in difficult situations, in order to mitigate or avoid an accident.

In 2009, Volvo's three-point safety belt turned 50, celebrating the world's first car with standard-fit three-point safety belts - a Volvo PV544 - built in 1959. Over the next 50 years, the V-shaped three-point safety belt saved well over one million lives. To this day, the three-point safety belt remains the car's single most important safety feature.

Communication And Sponsorship
The overall winner of the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race was Ericsson 4 who ensured the victory already before the final leg to the finish in St Petersburg, Russia.

Know what Edward Cullen drives? Volvo launched a new global online promotion in conjunction with the release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon film. Of more than 370,000 competing fans in five countries, six happy contestants were awarded with a new shiny Volvo C30 or an XC60 - just like the one Edward drives.