A Very Special Overseas Delivery

For Christina Walsh, taking an Overseas Delivery of their 2010 Volvo S40 was a bittersweet experience.

On July 6, 2010, Christina along with her husband, Michael, and their son, Ethan, set out for Goteborg, Sweden. Christina was exciting and sad at the same time. On some level, it felt like she was coming home because she has such a strong connection to Sweden.

Christina’s mother, Maja Lisa Carlsson, was born in Sweden,. For the last six years of her life, she suffered from Alzheimer’s, so she wasn't able to visit her homeland, and last year she passed away. Christina wanted to fulfill her mother's wish to be buried in Sweden, but because the winters there are so long and the ground stays frozen, she had to wait until spring to take her mother’s ashes to her final resting place.

It was actually her mother’s best friend, Brit Burton, who convinced Christina to take the Overseas Delivery of their Volvo since they were in the market to buy a new car anyway. Brit knows a lot about Volvo, because her father, Gustav Larson, along with his business partner, Assar Gabrielsson, founded the Volvo line of cars in 1924. Larson was a technician at a ball bearing company and Gabrielsson was an economist. Somehow they met and launched the Swedish line of cars known as Volvo.



According to the Volvo Museum Brochure, Gabrielsson and Larson coined the expression “Building Cars the Volvo Way” because they were designed and built to be different from other automobile manufacturers.

So Christina took the advice of her mother’s closest friend and planned an Overseas Delivery of a 2010 Volvo S40 and brought her mother’s ashes along with her to Sweden. The experience felt like nothing less than a fairy tale.

The Walsh’s were very impressed with the royal treatment Volvo provides its Overseas Delivery customers. “When we got off the plane, there was a limo driver waiting at the airport with our name on a card. Then we were whisked off to the factory for an amazing breakfast and a tram tour of the factory. Fascinating! We saw the James Bond Volvo! We got to see the 550 robots that actually put the cars together. The robots themselves are made in another part of Sweden. They do 99% of all the welding on the cars. It was so amazing to see so much, but we weren’t allowed to see everything because there were curtains in the paint area. So there’s so much more research going on there,” said Christina.

The following day, the Walsh family visited the Volvo Museum, which is not far away from the factory. “I highly recommend going to the Museum. We saw the wind systems in the water that power Volvo Factories; and green renewable energy. I was impressed with their attitude and way of thinking about things. If they have an idea, and they try something and it doesn’t work, they just move on and build on what they learned. I’ve actually started to bring this line of thinking into my own projects I’m working on here in my efforts to clean up the Rocketdyne site. It’s a different perspective,” said Christina. Building on core values of “Quality” and “Safety,” Volvo has been a pioneer in environmental policy since 1972 and over the years has made this a major priority.

While in Sweden, Christina reunited with her mother’s 86 year old sister, Margrit Larsson, who lives in Stockholm. They also received a slightly escalated tour due to her connections with the founders. “My son got to drive a giant Volvo bus, and I got to drive a truck on the private Volvo track. Did you know Volvo Trucks owns Mack trucks? It was such an education for all of us. Did you know that Volvo was the first car company to invent the seatbelt but chose not to patent it so that it could be open to the world immediately? Did you know Volvo was also part of the aerospace industry? There’s a whole segment in the museum dedicated to Volvo’s involvement in marine and aero engines and trucks.

Over the course of her trip, the Walsh’s put 1265 miles on their new Volvo. Christina said it had been over six years since her last visit to Sweden, but vows that she will travel there more often with her family. “I got to see ‘my rock’ that my grandfather dedicated to me when I was seven years old and showed my son where my name was carved into it. It was so great that my son was able to really get in touch with his Swedish heritage.”

Here are just a few benefits of the Volvo Overseas Delivery program:

• A huge savings off the MSRP compared to taking delivery of a Volvo that has already arrived here in the USA.
• Roundtrip tickets for two to Europe
• One free night at the Radisson SAS, a first class hotel in Gothenburg, Sweden, home of Volvo
• Fifteen day European Car Insurance coverage including Swedish temporary registration of your new vehicle
• Tour of the Factory Delivery Center in Gothenburg, Sweden and a complimentary Swedish Meatball lunch
• Travel packages and much, much more

If you are interested in taking an Overseas Delivery of a Volvo, call our sales department at 818/577-2500, and get your plans underway for an adventure of a lifetime.

Seven Volvos and Still Counting!

For Linda Lott, DDS, “VOLVO FOR LIFE” is truly a lifetime commitment.

Linda is a Pediatric Dentist and has been driving Volvos since 1971 when she was still a graduate student at UCLA. “I’ve owned seven Volvos since 1971. The first one was a fuel injection 142E two-door coupe with a manual transmission. I didn’t know how to drive a stick, so my friend had to help me to learn so I could drive my car back to UCLA,” said Linda. This first car captured an official “300,000 Mile” certificate from Volvo for driving the car over 300,000 miles. “I just drove that car everywhere!” Linda said with a laugh.

Her next Volvo was a 1985 745 grey station wagon with black leather interior and fuel injection; then she bought a two-door 760. Linda says the most important reason for choosing a Volvo for her is safety and then comfort. “We always chose top of the line, loaded Volvo’s. They are just so comfortable.” In fact, Linda’s dad tried to convince her to buy a Volkswagen when she was a student, and she told him, “Not on these freeways!”

In 1988 Linda bought two Volvos; one was a white 980 station wagon and the other one was a 780 Limited Edition Bertone two-door coupe, which was her favorite. “It was a special design that particular year because it was designed by Nuccio Bertone, an Italian designer who worked for Maserati. I really wanted to keep that car."

The white station wagon got Linda through AYSO soccer with all three of her kids, and when her youngest daughter was ready to get her license she felt very confident riding with her and letting her drive. Linda remembers Halloween 2000 when another car got impatient with traffic and literally jumped across the lanes of traffic on Beverly and La Brea Avenues and t-boned her Volvo. “All we could do was bear down. The air bags discharged, and the whole front end was demolished. My Volvo was totaled, and it had over 200,000 miles on it.”

Linda’s next Volvo was a 2001 XC70, and she quickly fell in love again. “It was espresso brown with tan interior. I loved that car. The interior was like butter,” said Linda. While travelling between her mother’s house in Camarillo and her home in South Pasadena, she quickly put 157,000 miles on that car, so she bought another XC70 - a 2007 with less than 15,000 miles on it. Her son took over the 2001 XC70, and that car currently has 156,000 miles on the odometer and is still going strong. In fact, Linda’s sister borrowed her station wagon so many times that she finally bought herself a V70 2.4T station wagon.

Linda says she really does try to give other car manufacturers a chance. “I tried to make a change, but when I’m in doubt, I always go back to Volvo. Every time I go out of town, I lease a Toyota Prius, and I drive it around, and I am impressed with the mileage. I really wish Volvo could figure that out, but after all the bad PR about Toyota, I won’t be buying one.”

It goes back to her priorities which are safety and comfort. “I’m just comfortable with a Volvo. I appreciate the thoughtfulness that went into the engineering. For now, I’ll just have to pay extra for the gas.”

For Linda, Volvo has been such a big part of her life, she can’t imagine driving anything else. “I’ll always have at least one Volvo in my family.”

Spring Break 2010 has forever changed Tara O’Malley, 18, from Thousand Oaks, California. A freshman at the University of Arizona, Tara and a few friends were excited to attend a concert in Ventura, and Tara agreed to be the designated driver.

The concert lasted longer than expected, and by the time Tara dropped off each of her friends it was nearly 3 o’clock in the morning. Her last stop was to drop off her boyfriend in Moorpark just a couple exits from her house. Her mom called to check on her and Tara told her that she would be home in 15 minutes.

She remembers getting on the freeway and heading home and because she was so tired, she made sure she was driving exactly 65 miles per hour. “I remember seeing the sign ‘Olsen Road 1 Mile,’ and the next thing I knew, I woke up and my car was flipping over and over. I found out later that I had hit a light pole and the impact must have jolted me awake,” said Tara. According to Tara’s dad, Robert, the car had flipped end over front several times because the Highway Patrol officers found five areas of impact. Tara’s car continued to flip down a 50-foot embankment onto the freeway ramp below and landed upright. By this time, Tara was in total shock. “It was so dark. I had no idea where I was. I couldn’t open the doors because they were stuck shut, and I couldn’t find my cell phone. The sunroof was smashed but there was an opening; so I took off my seatbelt, stood up through the opening and screamed for help. I looked to my right and saw a car driving toward me. It was a police officer. He had heard the car crash so he rushed over to make sure I was okay and then called the paramedics.”

After checking to see if Tara had any neck pain or trouble moving, the paramedics helped her get out of the car through the passenger side door, and she actually walked to the ambulance. While inside the ambulance, someone had found her cell phone that was wedged between the windshield and the dashboard and they asked her if she wanted to call her mom. “I was just so flustered. I was bawling and crying. I couldn’t even use the phone, so I asked them if they could please call her for me, and just as they were looking for her number, my mom called to see where I was. Then my boyfriend called to see if I had gotten home okay.”

Tara was taken to the hospital, and as a precaution, they ran blood work and X-Rays. Amazingly, she had a small gash on her head and her eye area, a large bump, her thumb was swollen and she had a bad bone bruise to her shin. The doctors determined later that she suffered a concussion.

The California Highway Patrol officers who arrived at the scene of the accident after Tara’s ambulance had already left were shocked to see Tara sitting up and talking with her family in the hospital. “They asked me if I remembered hitting the light pole, and I hadn’t even seen the pole. Then they asked me if I had been drinking, which I hadn’t at all,” said Tara. They told my parents, ‘I can’t believe your daughter right now. When we showed up at the accident, we thought the person in that car didn’t survive.’ One of the officers said that his cousin had just been in a similar accident but didn’t make it.”

After a few hours, Tara was released from the hospital. Later that day, Tara’s parents were the ones in shock after seeing the wrecked Volvo. Robert O’Malley summed up their feelings, “We are very grateful that we still have her. We thank God and Volvo!”

Tara only missed one week of school. She just completed her freshman year at the University of Arizona and is looking forward to the summer break. “I’ve been telling everyone I know that I’m going to drive a Volvo for the rest of my life.”

Volvo is SAFE and GREEN

While Volvo doesn't officially have a "Hybrid" vehicle to sell, it offers "Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle" options on four models: The Volvo S40, V50, S60 and V70

PZEV meets today's cleanest emissions standards for gasoline-powered vehicles, and that's not all. Volvos are designed to be 85% recylable. Since 1989, Volvo has marked all plastic components over 50 grams with the Universal Recycling Symbol.

Here are some PZEV Facts:

Vehicles with a PZEZ rating emit about two pounds of hydrocarbons during 100,000 miles of driving. This is equivalent to spilling a pint of gasoline!

Did you know that some HYBRIDS do not even meet the PZEV standard?

A PZEV-rated vehicle would have to be driven more than 2,100 miles to be equal to mowing your lawn for one hour using a 5.4 horsepower lawn mower.

If you grilled one hamburger in your backyard, you would produce the same smog-forming emissions as driving a PZEV car for three hours or 180 miles.

Call 1-800-GO-VOLVO for more information.