Volvo Car UK challenges The Mayor of London to Emissions Equality

Late yesterday afternoon, Volvo Car UK challenged the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, to review the basis of charging for the London Congestion Charging zone.

We believe that the principle of hybrid cars being exempt from the Congestion Charge is now outdated and unfair. Drivers of hybrid cars enter the zone free of charge on a daily basis while drivers of low emission cars powered by conventional internal combustion engines with the same, or even lower, levels of emissions are charged £8.00 per day. This could add a financial burden of over £2,000 per year to those drivers who have selected a traditionally-powered low emission car.

The apparent disparity was highlighted to Boris Johnson by the Regional President for Europe from Volvo Car Corporation when he collected the What Car? Green Car of the Year award from The Mayor recently. This was followed up by a letter to The Mayor's office on 22 June.

What Car? has joined the campaign, and you can too by registering support at www.volvocars.co.uk/emissionsequality . Using the power of Social Media, you can also follow the cause on http://twitter.com/eequality or befriend the campaign at www.facebook.com/pages/Emissions-Equality/119945287541

Now I understand Twitter

Like many people, I've been trying many different things in the New Media world, trying to understand how, and why, they work. And there is a easy comparison to make between the worlds of social media and alternative fuels in cars. If we could look forward 5 or 10 years from now, we'd understand which technology, or technologies, would win through, and we'd all be backing that horse. However, for now, we haven't yet invented the time machine so we are all stuck trying to work out which road to take.

And one of those avenues is Twitter. I've been Tweating for some time now, but never really understood why. Why would anybody care about what I'm doing now. Yes, in a personal context, your friends might be interested but in a broader, work-based environment, who cares? I have enough trouble keeping up with my own life rather than worrying about what's going on in the minute-by-minute minutiae of their lives.

But the eureka moment arrived this week. Social Media guru Carolyn Watt from Volvo's Social Media agency, Mindshare suggested I don't think about it as an insight into follower's lives, more like an alternative, and more democratic, version of Google.

And in those few intervening days, it's become an invaluable assset. Ask Twitter a question, and all of your followers respond with the answer. Not a computer-generated answer from Google who's supporters in the background have paid a bob or two for Google to provide the answer, but an answer from friends or colleagues who's input you truly value. Now I get it.

Volvo Car UK takes first Social Media steps

The world is changing at Volvo. Ask the 'man in the street' what comes to mind when he thinks about Volvo and, like any brand, you'll get a diversity of answers. However, the responses for Volvo are changing. Fewer and fewer respondents would talk about large estate cars and 'a car my Dad had'. More and more, the Volvo brand is being associated with cutting-edge design, an environmental conscience and innovative safety. Don't just take the PR man's word for it, I've got the proof if needed!

And along with this change in perception comes an opportunity to reach out to a changing audience. Previously on my blog, you'll have read how Volvo has employed the services of Mindshare to assist us with the task of Social Media and Digital PR

http://torquetalking.blogspot.com/2009/04/new-media-news.html

And that decision caused a bit of a stir –

http://torquetalking.blogspot.com/2009/05/right-to-reply-media-agencies-muscle-in.html

Well, now the dust has settled, we are ready to embark on the journey. Like any business that takes the first steps into this new world, the advances need to be small and measured in the first instance to prove you're doing the right thing and taking others with you. After all, setting off in the wrong direction could spell disaster, and you'd spend time and money just getting back to where you started.

But where to start? The opportunity to make a bit of a splash in this new world seems like a good starting point, as does the ability, with this splash, to monitor the reaction and compare and contrast the reaction to that of the traditional media world that we're all familiar with.

So, keep a look out at 20:00 next Monday 8 June 2009 for an announcement that, I believe, reinforces the reasons why the perceptions of Volvo are changing. Stay tuned.

Driving the Volvo S60 Concept - virtually.

Volvo is giving an insight into the driving characteristics of the Volvo S60 Concept with the release of an innovative new PC-based racing challenge called Volvo - The Game. Available to download for free now from www.volvocars.co.uk/S60concept, it features five of Volvo's racing legends as well as the new Volvo S60 Concept. The game has been developed between Volvo Car Corporation and multiple award-winning Swedish game studio, the SimBin Development Team.

The six cars include the new Volvo S60 Concept, the Volvo C30 currently competing in the STCC (Swedish Touring Car Championship), the previous Volvo S60 that competed in the STCC, the Volvo S40 that notched up many notable successes in the BTCC (British Touring Car Championship), the Volvo 850 - the estate car that became a legend in the BTCC - and finally a true racing classic from the past, a Volvo 240 Turbo Group A.

Players select their favourite Volvo to test their skills on one of the two highly authentic tracks. The two tracks are the Gothenburg Eco Drive Arena in Sweden and Chayka outside Kiev in the Ukraine. Volvo - The Game is the only virtual racing game in the world to feature the Ukrainian racing track.

Volvo - The Game in detail
A team of 15-20 people worked together to create Volvo - The Game with the aim of making it as realistic as possible. The game developers have invested tens of thousands of hours in getting all the details exactly right. Just "building" a car for a racing game takes about one month.
As is the case with the real cars, the six cars in this game each have different driving characteristics. The classic Volvo 240 Turbo Group A, for instance, handles very differently when compared with the latest newcomer, the Volvo S60 Concept. In order to recreate the older cars' interiors as authentically as possible, the designers visited the Volvo Museum to study the former racing legends.

To add further authenticity, game engineers also pulled one of the race cars out of hibernation and gave it a thorough full-speed workout, recording the engine sound straight from the racing track.

The two racing tracks have been reproduced with detail and immense precision. It takes about 1000 hours to create a virtual racing track. Even the kerbs are exactly the same height as the real track.

Volvo - The Game can be played with a steering wheel and pedals connected to the computer. It is also possible to operate the car via the PC's keyboard or with a game-pad. The game offers a choice of skill levels: "novice" with all the driver assistance technology activated such as ABS brakes, the next level up is "semi-pro", and finally "pro" where there is no assistance whatsoever.

Volvo reveals full scrappage scheme details

• All models in the highly specified, safe and environmentally conscious Volvo range are available through the Government's Scrappage Scheme
  
• Volvo Car UK goes the extra mile by giving customers an offer over-and-above the Government £1,000 contribution
  
• Scrappage Scheme offers also available across Volvo's low CO2-emitting DRIVe range, including Start/Stop models, the XC60 front-wheel drive 2.4D and new S80 executive saloon
  

Following Volvo Car UK's confirmation of its participation in the Government's Scrappage Scheme, Volvo is pleased to announce further details of the additional support offering which will be available across all models, engines and trim levels in the range.

Customers purchasing a car through the Scrappage Scheme can benefit from the Government's £1,000 payment which Volvo will match. This £2,000, combined with extra support from Volvo, will enable customers to drive away a new Volvo C30 1.6 R-DESIGN with £3,849 off the list price.

These support offers are available across the range including all the DRIVe-badged models. Customers looking to lower their environmental impact can purchase a C30 DRIVe with Start/Stop with a contribution from the Government and Volvo Car UK totalling £4,027. The S40 DRIVe S with Start/Stop features a total saving of £4,377.

And the offers are not just available on the smaller models. Customers can drive away a new Volvo S80 DRIVe SE with a saving of £5,210 off the list price, while the Volvo XC60 2.4D DRIVe is available with a £4,640 saving. On an XC90 seven-seat SUV, that saving becomes an astonishing £6,841.

With the DRIVe cars' excellent environmental performance, the driver also benefits from other financial incentives. The C30, S40 and V50 DRIVe models with Start/Stop all qualify for £35 per annum VED band thanks to the ultra-low CO2 output of 104 g/km, while an impressive fuel consumption figure of up to 72.4 mpg on a combined cycle enables the cars to run up to 800 miles on a full tank of fuel.

The Volvo V70 and S80 DRIVe models come equipped with the 1.6-litre diesel engine with specially-tailored engine software and modified gear ratios in third, fourth and fifth. The optimised powertrain helps Volvo's larger cars significantly cut their fuel consumption and CO2 emissions up to 57.6 mpg and 129 g/km respectively (preliminary figures). The Volvo XC60 and XC70, in their new front-wheel drive guise and mated to the new 2.4D engine, offer emissions of just 159 g/km and fuel consumption up to 47.1 mpg.

Crucially, these CO2 figures enable all the Volvo DRIVe models to fall below the 160 g/km threshold for the Capital Write Down Allowance. As a result, company car drivers will benefit significantly from lower Benefit-in-Kind taxation bills. All models are also covered by Volvo's comprehensive 3 year/60,000 mile warranty.

Customers with an eligible car can visit any participating authorised Volvo dealer and the incentive payment is available on any new model in the Volvo range. Along with the extra support, Volvo proves that high specification, safety and being environmentally conscious doesn't need to break the bank.

The right to reply - Media agencies muscle in

I've been fascinated reading the discussion thread following the interview I gave PR Week last week about the future of PR agencies and SEO. Read the original interview here:

http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/article/903849/Media-agencies-muscle/?DCMP=EMC-DailyNews

For starters, and for the record, I don't think that the days of the PR agency are numbered. As a matter of fact, as a business, we employ a retained PR agency and use a number of other agencies on an adhoc basis. However, I do believe that marketing agencies have probably done a better job of adapting to today's competitive environment than many, but not all, PR agencies have.

When Volvo decided to move into this area, it did so with eyes open and on the back of my previous experience as the UK motor industry's first and only New Media PR Manager for BMW and MINI. And this is not about letting the chosen agency set sail with your brand and steering in whichever direction they see fit. It's about partnering with an agency who really understand the Volvo brand, its customers as well as the online audiences and influencers. It's also about partnering with the right agency who can deliver on the brief.

And I do believe, also for the record, that social media PR can play a key part in a SEO strategy. Yes, digital PR has a role to play in influencing online audiences and shaping brands as it has always done in the traditional world but ultimately, all online PR activity should be geared towards driving customers to our own website. And, at the end of the day, selling cars – after all, that's what we're all here to do. The days of long lunches and the vast MP-style expense budgets in the PR industry went a long time ago and now, more than ever, PRs need to justify what they are doing and why they are doing it.

So, if SEO and driving consumers to your website is a large part of the goal, but you also need to execute a social media strategy, what do you do? Employ a PR agency and hope they'll deliver on the SEO brief too? Not us, we've decided to employ an experienced SEO agency who, for the record too, also have a great deal of experience in creating and managing social media PR strategies alongside the in-house team to make sure the off-line and on-line activities complement one another.

This decision may have caused debate, but debate is good. We live in a world of flux where very few decisions are simple anymore and there are more and more grey areas opening up. This one, in particular, highlights the possible gap between a Marketing and PR function, and we need to ensure that nothing falls between the slats. That's why we believe that a joined up approach, working in close partnership with all stakeholders to ensure that everybody delivers exactly to the brief, is the right way to proceed. You make your own choice as to whether you think it's the right thing to do.

But does this mark the end of the PR agency as we know it. No, just companies breaking down the barriers that have traditionally existed to make the most of the resources that they have available to them.

Boy they must be annoyed

Much of my interest in cars stems from a passion in motorsport. I was racing dragsters with my father from the tender age of 10, I've raced 100cc TKM karts and my first job was working at McLaren F1 racing team in 1988 - the year of Prost and Senna.

So, as an avid motorsport fan, I sat down on the sofa to watch another Formula One race yesterday. Now, a year ago, you could have pretty much have predicted what the podium was going to look like, because it'd been the same for a good few years. It would probably have been a Ferrari or McLaren winning, with a BMW Sauber driver standing alongside them, spraying the champers over the adoring team members and fans.

Not this year however. The change of rules has meant that the form book has gone out of the window and a new guard is now installed. Well, actually a quite old, slightly bearded guard. But at least he's a Brit and we haven't been able to say that since Damon Hill's days. So, all change and all's well then?

Not quite. I suspect that all is not okay in the Boardroom at Honda at the moment for it was those Executives who, at the end of last year, decided that they'd spent enough time and money on Formula One and needed to exit, and quickly. With only a few championship points to show for hundreds of millions of dollars of spend over successive years, they needed to get out.

And along comes the team's knight in shining armour, in the guise of eminently talented Ross Brawn, who buys the outfit on the cheap, gets some funding from another bearded fellow, gels the team together and hey presto, pulls together a potentially championship-winning team in a matter of weeks.

I'm not sure how "Oh Bugger" translates in Japanese, but I suspect you can hear it being said in a good few Honda offices at the moment.

The car that stops itself, and saves lives.

Just returned to the office after a life-changing experience - literally.

When Volvo launched the XC60 cross-over, it launched City Safety - a system that monitors cars traveling in front and, at speeds of less than 9mph, will avoid you crashing into it. The words counter-intuitive spring to mind. Here you are, driving along minding your own business and the car in front of you stops. Immediately the Volvo will apply the brakes to ensure that you don't crash into the back of the car in front. At speeds between 9 and 18mph, it will lessen the impact.

Now that's impressive, and it will certainly save those nasty repair bills but it won't save lives... until now.

I've just driven a prototype XC60 with technology that will be offered next year, and this will literally save lives. Using similar technology to City Safety, the Volvo is looking ahead for human-shaped objects. As soon as it detects a person in the road, or entering the road from the pavement, it slams the brakes on to avoid hitting it. And at speeds of up to 25mph, and maybe a little more.

50 years ago this August, Volvo invented the three-point seatbelt, but didn't patent it because it reaslied the significance of the invention in saving lives. Arguably, in 50 years time, we'll be celebrating a similiar anniversary except this time it will be a device that's saved as many pedestrians as the seatbelts as saved occupants.

Hay fever relief from Volvo

Volvo is offering relief to millions of hay fever sufferers facing another summer of streaming eyes and sudden sneezes by providing a cabin of safe haven. All new Volvo models are fitted as standard with pollen filters and cabin air quality monitoring systems to create the healthiest passenger environment possible.

Hay fever effects 20 per cent of the UK population and with symptoms like sneezing and itchy eyes liable to affect a motorists ability to drive safely, it's a situation Volvo takes very seriously.

So seriously in fact, that it fits pollen filters to all its vehicles and has developed air quality monitoring systems that have been recommended by the Swedish Asthma and Allergy Association. The technology ensures that air passing through the vehicle is filtered to remove pollen and other airborne allergens before they reach occupants in the cabin.

Volvo has two solutions to improve the air quality inside the car - Air Quality System (AQS) with a pollen filter and the Clean Zone Interior Package (CZIP) - both of which are designed to provide relief to the millions of people in the UK who suffer with hay fever.

The Air Quality System and Pollen Filter are standard on all new Volvos and ensures that air inside the cabin is as clean as possible by continuously monitoring the amount of incoming air pollutants such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and ground-level ozone. If it senses the levels are rising too high, it temporarily closes the exterior air inlets. It also features a layer of active charcoal to remove odours and ground level ozone before they reach the cabin. The AQS works in conjunction with the standard Electronic Climate Control (ECC) to ensure a comfortable and safer environment inside the car, which is especially important for corporate drivers accustomed to spending many hours behind the wheel.

The Clean Zone Interior Package provides an interior with materials that avoid collecting dust, such as natural rubber mats instead of dust-collecting textile ones, and upholstery that conforms to the regulations set out by the Swedish Asthma and Allergy Association. It also includes a unique remotely controlled cabin ventilation system which automatically refreshes the car's interior as soon as it is unlocked via the remote key fob to ensure stale air is removed as quickly as possible when the driver climbs aboard. CZIP is available as an option on S80, V70, XC70 and XC60 and costs £125 (including VAT).

"Millions of people in the UK suffer from hay fever and other allergies, so it makes sense for us to focus attention on improving air quality and minimise any potential safety risk that could arise from an allergic reaction while driving," said Peter Rask, Volvo Car UK managing director.

"Our concern isn't just restricted to new vehicle buyers either. Pollen filters are replaced as part of the regular routine service at Volvo dealers, so the benefits also apply to customers purchasing older, used vehicles too."

One-Two in Sweden

The 2009 Swedish Touring Car Championship season opened this weekend at Mantorp Park and the season-opener turned into a whitewash for Volvo fans. The Volvo team Polestar with drivers Robert Dahlgren and Tommy Rustad led from the front all weekend, with Dahlgren claiming pole position and Rustad qualifing in second position on the starting grid. The race itself was equally impressive. The Volvo drivers defended their positions through Mantorps infamous start corner and continued to pull away lap after lap. Fourteen laps later, Volvo had a double victory in the bag. Dahlgren won and Rustad took second place.

Proof, if ever it were needed, that the golden days of Volvo's Touring cars where 850 Estates went wheel-to-wheel with BMWs and Vauxhalls, aren't over just yet.

I'm back

Apologies to anybody who used to follow my old blog - thetorque.blog.co.uk. I won't bore you but as you can tell, I've changed jobs and email addresses and now can't access it. So I'm back, this time as Torque Talking and hopefully still talking about issues relevant to the UK motor industry. And there's so much going on. Falling car sales, the government scrappage scheme, new models gallore, motorshows and a whole host more.

So much to cover, so little time. Back soon with the truth as to what's going on in the UK motor industry.