For immediate release
In 1998, Volvo Car Corporation became the first automaker in the world to publish an environmental product declaration (EPD) verified by Lloyds Register Quality Assurance. This year, all engine variants of the 2001 Volvo S80, V70, Cross Country, S40 and V40 will be supplied with an EPD containing complete environmental information.
The 2001 EPD describes the environmental impact of Volvo cars during their design, production and useful life, as well as the development of technologies for recycling end-of-life vehicles. The progress made by suppliers, dealers and Volvo Car itself in implementing environmental management systems is also reported. Similar EPDs will be published later this year for the American and Japanese markets.
"The purpose of our EPDs is to provide those customers who wish to make environmentally responsible choices with a means of assessing the strengths and weaknesses of our products," explains Hans-Olov Olsson, President of Volvo Car. "By describing the environmental performance of our products in a transparent manner, and allowing an independent inspector to examine all of the data and the entire process used to produce it, we have made it both simpler and safer for customers to make the necessary comparisons."
The 2001 EPD also demonstrates that the overall environmental impact of the emissions of Volvo cars is being reduced, both from the company's production plants and from the cars themselves. Fuel consumption, which was improved significantly last year, has now been cut even further. Volvo cars are now among the most fuel-efficient in their respective classes and several engine variants are outright leaders in this area.
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Information:
Lisa Graham
Volvo Cars of Canada Ltd.
(416)490-5834
Doug Mepham
MacDonald & Co.
(416)975-1572
