Swedish luxury marque Volvo Cars is celebrating its 90th birthday today, and this month will also mark the new XC60’s start of production. The car division got separated from the Volvo Group in 1999 and was sold to Ford. In 2009, Ford handed it over to the Geely from China, since then, the Volvo Cars appears to be in rude health.
The first-ever Volvo, the ÖV4, saw the light of day on April 14th, 1927. “This first Volvo sold a total of 275 vehicles in its lifetime, which was modest even in those days. The new XC60 replaces one of the best-selling model in Volvo’s 90-year history,” says Volvo.
Ever since the XC60 was introduced in 2008, it became the bestselling premium mid-sized SUV in Europe and in its 9th year, it is still the best seller, adds the company. The current XC60 today represents around 30% of Volvo’s total global sales of 966,000 and this month the number of original XC60’s produced will surpass 1,000,000.
“Volvo is very proud of its history. The past 90 years have been exciting, but the 10 years left until the 100 year anniversary may come to be more exciting as industry focus shifts to autonomous driving, electrification and connectivity,” says Håkan Samuelsson, chief executive of Volvo Cars. “The new XC60 is in many ways the embodiment of these trends.”
The new XC60 packs the latest in safety technology, including the new Oncoming Lane Mitigation system which uses a steer assist to help mitigate head-on collisions. Volvo’s semi-autonomous driver assistance system, Pilot Assist, which takes care of steering, acceleration and braking on well-marked roads up to 130 km/h, is available in the new XC60 as an option.
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