Volvo Cars has once again performed very well in the annual IIHS Top Safety Pick+ Awards. In this year's honours list four Volvo cars made the Top Safety Pick+ grade: the S60, V60, S80 and XC60. Volvo Cars was the only European brand with more than two models on the list.
“Volvo Cars' commitment to real-life safety and our Vision 2020, which states that no one should be killed or seriously injured in or by a new Volvo car, underlines our approach towards continuous improvement in this field. At Volvo Cars we focus on real-life safety - reflecting the many and varied causes and results of car accidents. It is of course a wonderful thing that we receive such honours and recognition for our advanced safety innovations from leading safety institutes,” said Dr. Peter Mertens, Senior Vice President Research & Development at Volvo Cars.
The Tops Safety Pick+ award criteria have grown tougher in the last twelve months, with increased demands around the standard for front crash prevention. To meet the new criteria cars making the Top Safety Pick+ grade must offer the ability to stop or slow down without driver intervention before hitting a target in IIHS tests at 12 mph, 25 mph or both.
Volvo Car’s front crash avoidance technology, City Safety, which is standard in all new Volvos, effectively helps to detect and brake automatically to mitigate or prevent a car to car rear end collision without driver intervention. Volvo’s City Safety technology has been shown to reduce insurance claim frequency by 16 percent*.
“Volvo Cars has received much recognition during its long history of safety driving the industry forward. A perfect example of this is the three-point safety belt, invented at Volvo in 1959 and now used globally by all car makers. With the sales start of the All-New XC90 in 2015 Volvo Cars will offer the world’s most advanced crash avoidance technology as standard,” said Thomas Broberg, Senior Safety Advisor at Volvo Cars.
Note to editors:
IIHS did not test all Volvo Car models available in the U.S. market during 2014. The XC70 was not tested and the All-New XC90 had not been launched in time to participate.
*IIHS Status Report Vol.48, No.3, April 25, 2013
----------------------
Volvo Car Group in 2013
For the 2013 financial year, Volvo Car Group recorded an operating profit of 1,919 MSEK (66 MSEK in 2012). Revenue over the period amounted to 122,245 MSEK (124,547 MSEK), while net income amounted to 960 MSEK (-542 MSEK). Global retail sales for the year amounted to 427,840 (421,951) cars, an increase of 1.4 per cent compared to 2012. The operating profit was the result of cost control and strong sales and was further tangible proof of Volvo Car Group’s progress in implementing its transformation plan. For the full year 2014, the company expects to stay in black figures and predicts to record a global sales increase of close to 10 per cent.
About Volvo Car Group
Volvo has been in operation since 1927. Today, Volvo Cars is one of the most well-known and respected car brands in the world with sales of 427,000 in 2013 in about 100 countries. Volvo Cars has been under the ownership of the Zhejiang Geely Holding (Geely Holding) of China since 2010. It formed part of the Swedish Volvo Group until 1999, when the company was bought by Ford Motor Company of the US. In 2010, Volvo Cars was acquired by Geely Holding.
As of December 2013, Volvo Cars had over 23,000 employees worldwide. Volvo Cars head office, product development, marketing and administration functions are mainly located in Gothenburg, Sweden. Volvo Cars head office for China is located in Shanghai. The company’s main car production plants are located in Gothenburg (Sweden), Ghent (Belgium) and Chengdu (China), while engines are manufactured in Skövde (Sweden) and Zhangjiakou (China) and body components in Olofström (Sweden).
