2007 Volvo Xc90 V8 Sport Utility 4-door 4.4l on 2040-cars

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Volvo to create 3,300 jobs at $1.25 billion EV plant in Slovakia

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Swedish luxury vehicle maker Volvo Cars plans to build a new European plant in eastern Slovakia, the countryÂ’s economy minister said Friday. VolvoÂ’s third European plant will be located in Kosice, SlovakiaÂ’s second-largest city, Economy Minister Richard Sulik said. Volvo will receive about 20% of the 1.2 billion euros ($1.25 billion) needed for the project as support from the Slovak government. The plant is expected to produce some 250,000 electric cars a year and to create some 3.300 jobs. Construction is scheduled to begin next year and production to start in 2026.  GermanyÂ’s Volkswagen, FranceÂ’s PSA Peugeot Citroen, South KoreaÂ’s Kia Motors Corp. and U.K.-based Jaguar Land Rover already have major plants in Slovakia, a Central European country of 5.5 million people. Volvo's plant will be the fifth there, and will bolster the country's standing as the biggest car producer per capita in the world, with the central European country of 5.4 million producing more than 1 million cars in 2021. For Volvo Cars, it will be its third plant in Europe and will build EVs only, in line with the company's ambition to produce EVs exclusively by the end of this decade. The European Union aims to phase out new fossil fuel car sales by 2035. "Expansion in Europe, our largest sales region, is crucial to our shift to electrification and continued growth," Chief Executive Jim Rowan said in a statement. The area targeted for the plant has long had high unemployment compared with the western part of the country. "I am very pleased that Slovakia succeeded in the competition for this mega investment that will bring development and many jobs to the east of Slovakia," Economy Minister Richard Sulik said in a statement. Volvo Cars' other European plants are in Belgium and Sweden. Its output last year rose by 5.6% to almost 700,000 automobiles, of which 27% were either fully electric or plug-in hybrids. The company, which is majority-owned by China's Geely Holding, listed on Nasdaq Stockholm last October. Includes material from Reuters.

Irv Gordon's Volvo P1800 has reached 3 million miles

While we were seated at our desks like good worker bees yesterday, Irv Gordon was continuing his assault on the record books. Gordon, if you recall, is the original owner of a red 1966 Volvo P1800 (owner and car shown above), and yesterday, Volvo says the coupe's odometer clocked its three-millionth mile. The miracle mile occurred on the Seward Highway in Alaska, one of only two states that Gordon had never visited.
It took the New York native more than 20 years to hit his first million miles in 1987 and another 15 years to achieve two million miles in 2002, but a road trip to Alaska will further cement his place in the record books as the car surpasses three million miles. Gordon has almost doubled the 1.69-million mile distance that helped him win a Guinness Book of World Records title for the most miles logged on an originally owned car, and this new momentous distance proves the durability of both man and machine. For more information on Gordon's feat, scroll down for a Volvo press release or check out a website set up to celebrate his latest milestone.

Volvo buyers have best credit scores among all auto shoppers

Experian, the US credit reporting agency, recently concluded a study into the financing and credit scores of US car buyers. One of the prime findings was that Volvo buyers enjoy the strongest credit scores among new car shoppers from all brands (nota bene, these are Experian's own numbers and can differ from other agencies). Unlike the Forbes report on the same story, though, we don't find that surprising at all, nor do we think it necessarily helps Volvo's upscale brand aspirations. The Gothenburg-based carmaker has sold its wares on tank-like safety for decades, so it seems natural that its buyers would be just as safe with and attentive to their credit scores as they are with their choice of vehicle.
Audi was ranked fourth by consumer credit score, Porsche seventh and Mercedes-Benz ninth, yet the fact that Volvo outranks them in this metric is probably a plus to its bottom line but not necessarily its image. It's not unfair to say more people desire those other luxury brands - Volvo itself has admitted as much - and people in the throes of desire have been known to be a little more let-it-ride about things like credit scores. The differences aren't huge, though: compared to Volvo's 818, Audi shoppers scored at 813, Mercedes shoppers 802. Lexus and Acura intenders took the other two steps on the top-credit-scores podium.
Mitsubishi took the honors at the other end of the charts, Experian finding that its potential customers, with an average of 604, had the lowest scores. Mitsubishi was followed by Suzuki and Dodge. On the other side of the financing table, Toyota led the way in how many of its vehicles were bought with bank assistance, followed closely by Ford, Chevrolet taking third place. Also of note, and for whatever it's worth, not one automaker made both the 'top ten by financing' and 'top ten by credit score' lists, but four made both the financing and 'bottom ten by credit score' lists: Chevrolet, Nissan, Kia and Dodge.