Volvo Cars has been through several ups and downs over the years. But now under steady Chinese ownership, they are on the verge of making a strong comeback with nice cars, says KUSHAN MITRA
The western coast of Sweden has been inspiring some of the world’s best television drama with shows like the crime-thriller, The Bridge. The sparse population and forests outside the cities give way to industrial landscapes dotted by wind farms. The port city of Gothenburg on this windswept coast is like many other great European trading cities, only a bit smaller. And it is here where one of the great Swedish companies, Volvo, is based.
But Volvo is not what it used to be. At one time a massive transportation company making everything from aircraft engines and outboard motors for boats, today the company is split, as after years of losses, the car and the truck divisions are not part of the same company anymore. Volvo Cars — once owned by Ford, when the American company also owned Jaguar land Rover and Aston Martin — is today owned by the large Chinese carmaker Zhejiang Geely Holdings, better known as just Geely. The truck and bus firm manufacturing firm is independent of the car company, although the brand is owned by a joint holding company.
Volvo has quite a storied history, created by two Swedish businessmen Assar Gabrielsson and Gustav larson in 1927 as they felt that the cars being produced by the Americans and British back then were not up to the task in the Scandinavian wilderness. Roads and connectivity were a problem in the Scandic nations then and the weather conditions with harsh winters remain a challenge.
As the years progressed, Volvo gained a reputation for safety. It was a Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin who invented the ubiquitous three-point safety belt in 1958 and did something unimaginable today — he gave his invention away for free. While any patent would have expired eventually, there is little doubt that this one invention has saved thousands of lives every year ever since it was first installed in cars.
On a visit to Volvo’s manufacturing and technical facilities a few months ago, your writer was shown some of Volvo’s research into accident data and environmental concerns. Volvo Cars has one of the world’s most advanced crash-testing facilities, which is able to recreate all sorts of crash conditions. This centre has a swing-arm that can rotate 90 degrees, thus enabling impacts from almost every angle. Volvo has an aim that nobody should die inside a Volvo car by the year 2020, and in addition to that they are also working towards pedestrian safety. Their latest cars have features such as airbags on the engine hood so that pedestrian injuries are reduced.
After a decade of restricted funds and being made to share parts with other companies, Volvo is now flush with cash and has invested heavily in its vehicles. It is also making some very crucial bets for example with their engine family. Future Volvo cars, starting with the new XC90 which was launched in India recently, will have engines that will be maximum of 2000cc, as the Swedish car company eschews big gas-guzzling engines.
However, as Volvo management explains, this does not mean that the company is giving up on powerful cars; the T8 Hybrid of the new XC90 churns out over 450 horsepower from two power sources when the internal combustion engine and the battery pack combine.
But the new XC90, while launched recently by Volvo India, is yet to start deliveries, there are several other cars on sale. Volvo India has a sales target of 2,000 cars this year and while that is small compared to the Germans, Mercedes-Benz and Audi are on track to sell close to 15,000 cars this year.
Volvo is also constrained by the fact that unlike their German competition, which includes BMW, they do not assemble their cars in India. Yet, their cars are extremely attractive and a pleasure to drive.
On the test track outside their factory at Gothenburg, we get a taste of Volvo’s line-up. There is a familiarity to all the interiors with the layout quite similar, with central console following a ‘waterfall’ shape. The new XC90 will bring in an all-new interior design, with a bulk of the physical buttons on the console being replaced by a touchscreen. Interestingly, Volvo executives admit that in four years, the new XC90 will be the oldest car in Volvo’s line-up, so all the cars that we are driving now will be replaced in a few years.
As for performance, the best way to evaluate that is to drive the cars in Delhi. So we drove the XC60 for a weekend in the Capital and must say were left quite impressed. It is a comfortable place to sit and the car is much larger than it seems; it actually feels bigger than the Audi Q5 and BMW X3 that it competes against. Both luggage space and rear-seat space are outstanding. And in terms of drivability, the 215 horsepower engine is mated to a six-speed gearbox. However, there is a palpable sense of a gear shift as you move up and down the gears.
While the car feels large and is easy to drive, its biggest asset is its looks. It looks the part and it looks different than the standard German-style SUVs or the prettied-up Range Rover Evoque. And the looks translate into functionality. This car, an all-wheel drive version, feels like it can handle rough roads and some off-road sections as well.
Given that in Sweden, where one in every five cars sold is a Volvo, there are still non-paved tracks, you know it can go off-road. The best thing about Volvo vehicles is their honesty; they don’t pretend to be something they are not. And that comes through in the XC60.