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Volvo changes 'Iron Mark' logo to fit with the times

Volvo's first car debuted in 1927, bearing the Swedish automaker's now-famous "Iron Mark" logo of a circle with an arrow pointing to the upper right. For 73 of the 94 years since that Volvo OV 4 open carriage, the company's been represented graphically by four versions of a two-dimensional-looking logo, either a colorful oval that looks like a sandwich shop sign, or the Iron Mark logo, or just script. From 2000 to 2020, that Volvo cars trademark has changed four more times (plus once for Volvo trucks), Volvo creating three versions of a 3D-looking Iron Mark with a blue bar across the middle containing the script, and in 2020, changing the font of the script. Now that's it's 2021, it's apparently time for another overhaul. Visitors to Volvo's Facebook page realized Volvo changed its profile picture to a new and very flat version of its Iron Mark. This isn't the revolution everyone's making it out to be. When Volvo debuted its last new Iron Mark in 2015, one of the Swedish ad agencies that created it wrote, "The logo has been simplified in its purest form and conveys the brand’s vision: to be the world's most progressive and desirable premium car brand." Thing is, the agencies created two versions of the logo — one in silver with three-dimensional shading that retained the blue crossbar drawn up in 2000, and another in black and white, a solid black circle and attached arrow with a black crossbar bearing white "Volvo" script. The automaker's been using the silver, shaded version everywhere the public would see it. Seems Volvo wanted something even more "simplified in its purest form," though, so it could have simply requested a tweak to the B&W version it's been sitting on for six years.   The question, "Do you like it," probably doesn't matter, because it won't stop anyone from buying the product. Besides, the Volkswagen logo went flat in 2019, Nissan went flat in 2020 and so did BMW, except that its flat roundel is for everything but its cars, and Kia went flat this year — along with Warner Brothers, Pringles UK, and Burger King, that last company seemingly trying to win an award for being plain. Simplicity in two dimensions is the thing now. A Volvo Australia rep told Drive the rollout "will be gradual. [This week] we start by rolling out the updated identity on our main website, main social media platforms and in the new Volvo Cars mobile app.

How the Chinese tycoon driving Volvo plans to tackle Tesla

HANGZHOU, China — "Do you know how big Volvo is?" asked Don Leclair, finance chief at Ford. It was 2008, and Leclair was responding to an offer from a little-known Chinese businessman to purchase the Swedish carmaker, which Ford owned. The businessman, Li Shufu, had a company with less than half Volvo's sales and a flagship model, King Kong, almost unknown outside China. He was politely shown the door of the "Glass House," Ford's iconic headquarters near Detroit, according to two people who were at the meeting. Ford's Leclair did not respond to requests for comment about the episode. Fast-forward to 2021 and Li Shufu's company, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, is one of the biggest-selling automakers in the world's biggest auto market. It controls not only Volvo Cars but also a clutch of global auto brands, and a significant stake in German giant Daimler AG, the maker of Mercedes-Benz. These names are now part of its plans for a revolution in autos. Geely is preparing Volvo for a listing on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange as a route towards the future of transportation: One where cars are part of an electrified network of mobility services, driving themselves, connecting to each other and — like cellphones — generating an array of data and new business opportunities. It's a vision more Silicon Valley than Detroit, where traditional automakers globally are chasing another giant — Tesla Inc. Li Shufu and his advisers eventually convinced Ford to part with Volvo in 2010 for $1.8 billion. It was the first in a string of deals, tapping brands such as Lotus, Smart and the London Electric Vehicle Company to form a network that he calls a "bigger circle of friends" across industry segments. Li Shufu sees them as building blocks to help Geely compete in a future where autos are not vehicles, but "service providers," he told Reuters in his management suite at Geely's headquarters in Hangzhou, eastern China. In that business model, cars will be available on subscription and offer services such as making payments and in-car apps. They will update their own software, and spawn opportunities in the same way as the mobile operating systems developed by Apple Inc and Google. "We are trying to create an automotive ecosystem similar to Android," he said. Li Shufu, 58, recently adopted a foreign first name - Eric - because he liked the sound of it.

How the new Volvo EX90 electric SUV adds revolution to the evolution

The all-new, all-electric Volvo EX90 does not appear to be radically different from the XC90, the vehicle it will eventually replace. It has nearly the same dimensions, inside and out. It sports familiar, familial design cues, including T-shaped “ThorÂ’s Hammer” headlights, a squared-off hood and roofline, sharply-swaged and deeply-scalloped flanks and tall taillights that fringe the hatch. Inside, three accessible rows of seats are done up in an upscale Scandinavian Modern motif, like an Arne Jacobsen furniture showroom. But if one looks closely, one begins to notice key differences. First, there is the blunt, closed snout up front. It may be grille-less, but itÂ’s still bedecked with VolvoÂ’s Iron Mark. Then, dead centered above the rearview mirror, like a pair of reading glasses canted atop oneÂ’s forehead, is a protruding hump. These hint at the EXÂ’s most comprehensive distinctions from its predecessor. The new full-size crossover is engine-less, the first Volvo to be built on an all-new battery-powered electric vehicle platform. And housed in that hump, is another first, the initial consumer vehicular integration of a functional lidar — like radar, but using light instead of sound waves — used to allow the carÂ’s advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) to “see” further down the road, even around bends and through some objects. Eventually, allegedly, it will also allow for “unsupervised driving” capabilities. Both of these features are signifiers of VolvoÂ’s latest, but ongoing, missions. The first is its commitment to a full electrification of its entire passenger car fleet, which it plans to accomplish by the end of this decade. The second is the brandÂ’s well-known leadership in vehicular safety. Volvo claims that its new suite of sensors (16 ultra-sonic, eight cameras, five radars and the lidar) can help prevent 10% of vehicular collisions and 20% of serious injuries, part of the brandÂ’s mission to prevent anyone from being killed or seriously injured in a Volvo. ThereÂ’s even a group of sensors monitoring the driverÂ’s wellbeing to make sure theyÂ’re not sleepy or wasted, while concurrently scanning the passenger compartment to ensure that no child or pet was left behind due to that aforementioned tired or inebriated state. If they forget, theyÂ’ll get an alert on their phone, which is also their key, and the A/C or heater will automatically turn on so the precious (yet forgotten) cargo doesnÂ’t bake/freeze.