Are You Following the Volvo Ocean Race?

Not many people make the connection between Volvo and 100 year old ocean racing, but we just chalk this up to yet another little known fact about this great car company.

It all started with two sailors and their solo voyages around the world: British adventurer Sir Francis Chichester and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail single handed and non-stop around the world between June 14,1968 and April 22,1969.In 1973 the Whitbread round the World Race contest was held using fully crewed yachts. Dangerous and perilous doesn’t begin to describe the situation. In fact, three sailors were lost after being thrown overboard during storms. From that point on, they ran a similar contest every four years.

In 2001-2002, Volvo claimed the race as the first Volvo Ocean Race, which some refer to as the “Everest of Sailing.” The race lasts nine months, and this year we began in October 2011 in Alicante, Spain and will end in early July 2012 in Galway, Ireland. According to a Volvo press release, “teams will sail over 39,000 nautical miles of the world’s most treacherous seas via Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya, Auckland, around Cape Horn to Itajaí, Miami, Lisbon, and Lorient.”

Each sailing team includes 11 professional crew members, and, depending on the leg of the journey, a team member could race day and night for 20 days straight with only freeze-dried rations for sustenance. This is a major mental and physical challenge for sailors who will endure sleep deprivation and hunger while providing off-the-charts strength and tenacity in temperature variations from -5 to +40 degrees Celsius. Crew members are allowed to bring only one change of clothes, and each takes on a different job while onboard the yacht. Among the 11 crew members, at least two sailors will have had medical training, one sailmaker, an engineer and one dedicated media crew member.

The boats are 70 feet long mono-haul designs recognized as the fastest sailing vessels of their kind and reaching speeds in excess of 25 knots. In fact, the 24 h our sailing record of 592 nautical miles is held by a Volvo Ocean Race 70!


This race is not for the weak of heart or mind and includes extreme conditions, real-life drama and a true test of one’s ability to work as a team coupled with incredible endurance.
You can log onto this website and follow the race live:
http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/home.html


You can sign up to watch live streaming video here:
http://new.livestream.com/volvooceanrace

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.

EDUCATION PAYS

Volvo Cars of North America is helping Educators with their new car purchase by offering a $1500 discount off the purchase or lease of eligible Volvo vehicles.

Eligible vehicles include all new XC90, XC70, S80, V70 or C70 models.

Customers must be a member of the National Education Association – the largest membership organization for education professionals in the United States, a NEA employee or state Affiliate employee to qualify. For instance, for California, the state Affiliate is the California Teacher’s Association.

All you need is your school ID (members) or business card (employees) and the NEA discount coupon in order to qualify for the program.

Call 1-800-GO-VOLVO (800/468-6586) for more information.

Like all good things, this promotion will end soon, so call today and take advantage of this great benefit before Sept. 30, 2009.