The Swedish police will take delivery of its first V90 police cars early next year after the car recently achieved the highest rating ever in the Swedish police’s highly demanding driving test.
The demands on emergency vehicles are higher than on normal road cars. On top of that, unlike in many other countries, in Sweden the police car is judged as a workplace. This means any car has to meet very strict demands in areas such as performance, comfort, quality and ergonomics in order to qualify as a police car.
The Swedish police car test focuses on five areas: a brake test, an obstacle course, evasive action tests with and without breaking, and high-speed emergency driving.
The overall score for the V90 was 9.2 out of 10, the highest rating ever achieved by any car in this demanding test.
The final test protocol on the V90 prepared by Swedish police test drivers concludes that “overall, it is difficult to find any faults at all. Chassis, steering, suspension, traction control and powertrain all show exemplary performance. Quick lane changes at high speeds feel almost deceptively easy, the car does what it is told to do and shakes off lateral forces without any protest.”
While the Swedish police will be the first to start using the V90, Volvo Cars sells its police cars in other countries as well. Other police forces that in recent years have used Volvos include Norway, Italy, the UK and the Netherlands. The V90, too, will be made available to any interested police forces around the globe.
With the V90 police car, Volvo takes the highly refined driving experience of the award-winning standard V90 to the next level. To transform the premium estate into a suitable emergency vehicle, the Volvo Car Special Products department further develop the car to meet the specific demands of police forces.
For instance, the chassis is made stronger and more dynamic, the brakes and suspension are improved and the car is fully equipped with all necessary tools and communication equipment. It takes about a week to transform a standard V90 into a police car at Volvo Cars’ special manufacturing facility in Torslanda, Sweden.
Volvo Cars has a long history in providing police cars: already in 1929 Swedish police fought crime from behind the wheel of a Volvo. In the decades that followed, classic Volvos such as the Amazon and the 144 also served in police uniform. More recently, the XC70 and V70 estates have been used by police forces. The XC70, too, was the best police car ever tested by Swedish police at the time of its introduction.
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Volvo Car Group in 2015
Voor het boekjaar 2015 liet Volvo Car Group (Volvo Cars) een bedrijfswinst optekenen van SEK 6.620 miljoen (EUR 706 miljoen), tegenover SEK 2.128 miljoen (EUR 229 miljoen) in 2014. De omzet voor dit boekjaar bedroeg SEK 164.043 miljoen (EUR 17,5 miljard), tegenover SEK 137.590 miljoen (EUR 14,7 miljard) in 2014. In 2015 verkocht Volvo Car Group wereldwijd 503.127 auto's, ofwel 8% meer dan in 2014. Deze recordcijfers qua omzet en bedrijfswinst betekenen dat Volvo Car Group kan blijven investeren in het wereldwijde transformatieplan.
Over Volvo Car Group
Volvo is actief sinds 1927. Vandaag is Volvo Cars een van de bekendste en meest gerespecteerde automerken ter wereld. In 2015 werden 503 127 Volvo's verkocht in ongeveer 100 landen. Sinds 2010 is Volvo Cars eigendom van Zhejiang Geely Holding (Geely Holding) uit China. Het bedrijf maakte deel uit van de Zweeds Volvo Group tot 1999, wanneer het werd gekocht door het Amerikaanse Ford Motor Company. In 2010 werd Volvo Cars uiteindelijk overgenomen door Geely Holding.
In december 2015 stelde Volvo Cars wereldwijd meer dan 29.000 medewerkers tewerk. De hoofdzetel, productontwikkeling, marketing en administratie van Volvo Cars zijn grotendeels gevestigd in Göteborg, Zweden. Het hoofdkantoor van Volvo Cars voor China is gevestigd in Shanghai. De grootste autofabrieken van het bedrijf zijn gevestigd in Göteborg (Zweden), Gent (België) en Chengdu (China), terwijl de motoren worden gemaakt in Skövde (Zweden) en Zhangjiakou (China) en de carrosserie-onderdelen in Olofström (Zweden).
