Volvo gets tough on CO2
June 30th, 2009 by Richard Aucock
VOLVO will, from now on, reduce the emissions of its car range by 5g/km of CO2 every year.
The tough target has been imposed by the company’s director of CO2 strategy, Peter Ewerstrand
The first fruits of this have come with the C30 range – the DRIVe variant has seen CO2 emissions plunge from 115g/km to 104g/km.
Other models have also seen big CO2 drops, with new additions to the DRIVe range. Key vehicles include:
• Volvo S40: 104g/km
• Volvo V50: 104g/km
• Volvo S80: 129g/km
• Volvo V70: 129g/km
• Volvo XC70: 159g/km
• Volvo XC60: 159g/km
‘Volvo is doing particularly well for CO2 emissions when you consider our cars are quite heavy,’ says Ewerstrand.
‘With the V70 and S80, we have overachieved. Our aim was for sub-140g/km; we’ve beaten this by 11g/km, giving us a big sales advantage in the large car market.’
The challenge for car dealers, say Volvo chiefs, will be to convince car buyers that a 1.6-litre diesel engine can work in such large cars.
‘Getting people into the cars will be crucial,’ said product manager Terissa Wingfield. ‘We will encourage car dealers to run demonstrators, so they can prove to customers that the models work in the real world.’
‘Car dealers have already outperformed our targets under the scrappage scheme,’ said Wingfield. The impetus now will be to use new product and continue this going forwards…
By Richard Aucock