Volvo continues it's expansion with a new facitlity In Bagalore India to build the XC90 to start.

Volvo Cars, the premium car maker, announced today that it will start vehicle assembly operations in India in 2017. This positions the company for further growth in the fast-expanding premium car segment in India. 

The assembly operations will be located near Bangalore in southern India and focus on models based on Volvo’s SPA modular vehicle architecture. The first Volvo model to be assembled there is the XC90 premium SUV. Additional models slated for local assembly will be announced at a later stage. 

In establishing its assembly operations, Volvo Cars is working together with Volvo Group, the truck, bus and construction equipment manufacturer, and will make use of Volvo Group’s existing infrastructure and production licenses near Bangalore. No further contract and financial details will be disclosed. 

“I am pleased that as of this year we will be able to start selling Volvos that are Made in India,” said Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars. “Starting vehicle assembly in India is an important step for Volvo Cars as we aim to grow our sales in this fast-growing market and double our market share in the premium segment in coming years.”

“We are delighted to announce the commencement of an assembly unit,” said Tom von Bonsdorff, Managing Director, Volvo Auto India. “It’s a sign of the company’s strong commitment to India.” 

Volvo’s decision to start assembly in India and market its vehicles as ‘Made in India’ fits well with a similarly named initiative launched by the national government several years ago, which seeks to highlight and promote Indian manufacturing prowess. 

While the Indian premium market is still relatively small, it is forecast to grow rapidly in coming years. Volvo currently has a premium segment share of close to 5 per cent, and aims to double this by 2020. In 2016, Volvo sold more than 1,400 cars in India, an increase of 24 per cent compared with 2015. Year-on-year sales growth in the first four months of 2017 amounted to more than 35 per cent. 

The 90 Series of volvo models are having a big update in safety, powertrain and connectivity to make them even better.

Volvo Cars, the premium car maker, has announced several important updates to its 90 series cars, delivering new safety, powertrain and connectivity options.

The Swedish car maker's smartphone integration offer, which already includes Apple CarPlay, will now come with Android Auto functionality in Volvo's large driver interface.

"Volvo Cars is the only car maker with a split-screen interface that allows you to use both your smartphone functionality and your in-car features without changing views. This is primarily a safety-related feature, designed to make our interface the easiest to use on the market.

In the same way, our Over-The-Air update capability means that you will always have the latest map updates to hand," said Dr Peter Mertens, Senior Vice President Research & Development at Volvo Car Group.

Delivering seamless smartphone integration that covers mainstream smartphone operating systems, Volvo's 90 series cars will also now feature a clever Over-The-Air navigation system update, which ensures that the car always has the latest maps on board.

Safety

For the Swedish and Norwegian markets, Volvo Cars has also applied its safety thinking to the connected car, delivering two new connected safety systems that will make their debut in the S90, V90 and XC90: Slippery Road Alert and Hazard Light Alert, which use the cloud to share safety-critical data between cars.

"Today's Volvos contain many safety sensors. We believe that sharing safety-related information – whether around conditions or hazards on the road ahead – is a thoughtful and useful way to use the information the car is already gathering," added Dr Peter Mertens. "With Connected Safety, Volvo Cars is helping to define a completely new type of road safety system."

Volvo Cars' Scalable Product Architecture, upon which the 90 series and coming 60 series models will be built, means that new safety systems can be added across the range of cars built on the platform with little or no delay.

Slippery Road Alert increases the driver's awareness of both current road conditions and those on the road ahead, by anonymously collecting road surface information from cars farther ahead on the road and warning drivers approaching a slippery section of road in advance.

Hazard Light Alert forewarns drivers of vehicles that have activated their hazard warning lights on the road ahead, providing the driver with enough time to slow down. This is particularly useful on blind corners and over the crest of hills in the road. These two new connected safety systems will go live in Sweden and Norway initially, with a planned roll-out to other markets.

Powertrain updates

In addition to delivering updated connectivity and safety, Volvo Cars has also added several new Drive-E powertrain variants, delivering an attractive balance of fuel economy and driveability. The D3 four-cylinder diesel engine, coupled to a new six-speed manual transmission, will deliver fuel economy of 4.3 l/100 km in the S90 with CO₂ emissions down to 114 g/km. A new six-speed automatic transmission coupled to the D3 will deliver 114 g/km of CO₂ and 4.3 l/100 km. The D3 will also now be available with All-Wheel Drive.

There are no plans to offer the D3 in UK versions of the 90 series cars.

Design

A new exterior colour, Maple Brown, has been introduced to the S90 and V90 as part of this 90 series model update.

The updated models will go into production in mid-November.

Volvo can arrange for your Christmas shopping to be delivered to your car, whilst you are at work. area specific only.

With just days to go before Black Friday and Cyber Monday – the busiest online shopping days of the Christmas season – Sweden’s Volvo Cars has unveiled a brand-new way to take some of the hassle out of Christmas shopping.

The premium car maker has launched the world’s first commercially available in-car delivery service by teaming up with PostNord, the Nordic region’s leading communication and logistics supplier, Lekmer.com, the leading Nordic online toy and baby goods store, and Mat.se, a Swedish online grocery retailer, to have Christmas toys, gifts, food and drinks delivered to its cars.

Volvo In-car Delivery promises to bring some of the cheer back to Christmas by eradicating the more unpleasant aspects of seasonal shopping such as a desperate search for a parking space in a busy city centre, crowds of stressed people and the disappointment of missed deliveries.

The Volvo In-car Delivery works by means of a digital key, which is used to gain one-time access to your vehicle. Owners simply order the goods online, receive a notification that the goods have been delivered and then just drive home with them.

“Christmas is fun – but let’s be honest, it is also a busy time for most families. This service simply makes shopping easier,” said Björn Annwall, Senior Vice President for Marketing, Sales and Service at Volvo. “Volvo In-car Delivery provides concrete proof that connected car technologies can be used to save people time and make their lives easier.”

Volvo In-car Delivery is currently available only for Volvo drivers in Gothenburg who subscribe to the Volvo On Call service, but it will be introduced elsewhere in Sweden and to other countries in future. There will also be a wider range of goods available for In-car Delivery as Volvo joins forces with more companies in future.

The service is extremely simple to use. Volvo owners just choose the In-car Delivery option at the online checkout when they buy their gifts, food, drinks or other packages. 

The Volvo In-car Delivery service is a good example of Volvo’s broader attitude to how new technologies can be introduced to its cars.

Volvo is always keen to explore new technologies, be it in the areas of safety, autonomous driving or connectivity, but believes fundamentally in Nordic utility – meaning it will introduce a technology only if it actually saves lives, saves time, adds an element of convenience or benefits drivers.

“Volvo is not interested in technology for the sake of technology,” said Klas Bendrik, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Volvo. “If a technology does not make a customer’s life easier, better, safer or more fun, we don’t use it.”

Volvo becomes the first premium car maker to purchase the world’s most advanced Vi-Grade chassis simulator.

Volvo Cars has become the first premium car maker to purchase the world’s most advanced Vi-Grade chassis simulator – the same equipment used by Ferrari and Porsche – to develop next generation Volvos.

The simulator offers exciting virtual environments including Germany’s renowned Nürburgring as well as test tracks at Volvo Cars’ own secret testing facility in Sweden. It allows Volvo Cars to conduct extremely early stage development work on high speed stability, balance and individual drive mode settings, leading to the development of cars that are more responsive, more rewarding and even more enjoyable to drive.

Engaging control

“We are making substantial investments in people, technology and facilities in order to redefine the Volvo driving experience. Our aim is to deliver full control, ease and dexterity at the wheel. We will improve drivability across the entire Volvo Cars range,” said Dr Peter Mertens, Senior Vice President Research & Development at Volvo Cars.

The Swedish car maker uses the simulator’s virtual environments to support early development work on high speed stability, balance and individual drive mode settings. The use of simulation means that settings can be rapidly tested combining the experiential judgment of a real driver and computer-aided objective data analysis.

The move heralds a new beginning for Volvo Cars in terms of driving experience, claims Dr Mertens. “We have made some critical investments both in terms of our R&D facilities and in our product components in recent times that are now beginning to pay dividends. Our completely new scalable product architecture (SPA), our modular powertrain program and the latest chassis components are the starting point.”

Freedom to innovate

The new simulator means more freedom to innovate in the concept development phase and shorter development time, according to Dr Mertens, enabling a more emotionally resonant driving experience.

“The beauty of the new simulator is that it provides us with the opportunity to physically experience the calculation models and evaluate them using human test drivers, rather than staring at graphs and numbers in a meeting room,” says Stefan Karlsson, Manager Vehicle Dynamics at Volvo Car Group. “This is further testament to our commitment to human centric development and a cornerstone of developing a driving experience that is truly Designed Around You.”