DRIVe Around the World - Challenging Peoples Connections

MARLOW, UNITED KINGDOM – November 16, 2009: Volvo Cars is launching an innovative online contest challenging people to virtually drive a Volvo C30 DRIVe around the world in 80 days, using only their Facebook friends. Volvo Cars will donate 15,000 Euros in the winning team's name to a carbon offset project promoted by "myclimate".

The purpose of the contest is to drive the economical, fuel-efficient Volvo C30 DRIVe round the world, using a network of contacts. The Volvo C30 DRIVe has a fuel consumption of 74.3 mpg, enabling it to cover 825 miles on a tank of fuel. This means that each participant drives the car for 825 virtual miles before passing it on to a Facebook friend, who in turn does likewise. The circle is completed when the car returns to its original starting point. The various teams' routes round the world can be followed on Volvo's Facebook page.

The contest will begin on November 16 and ends on February 5. It can be accessed either by logging on to VCC's Facebook page www.facebook.com/volvo or by logging on to the contest directly at apps.facebook.com/drivearoundtheworld.

The winning team's reward will be a donation of 15,000 Euros to a carbon offset project through the organisation myclimate to help reduce global warming. Myclimate works according to the Gold Standard, which is certified by the U.N. and has been formulated by, among others, WWF International and Greenpeace International. The donation is enough to neutralise the amount of carbon dioxide generated by the average person during a lifetime.

For each additional driver, Volvo Cars will contribute funds that are the equivalent of 99 grams of carbon dioxide, which is the level of a Volvo C30 DRIVe's emissions per kilometre.

Facebook is a meeting place where at least a hundred million people log on every day and this 80-days-around-the-world contest can be seen as a type of social experiment; a challenge for the participants to see how well connected they really are.

"This challenge ties in with Volvo's new campaign ‘There's More To Life Than A Volvo, that's why you drive one' by highlighting how vital our personal connections are in making the world a better place. And when the competition is finally concluded, Volvo will have found arguably the world's most well-connected people," says Lukas Dohle, who is in charge of Live Communication and Social Media at Volvo Car Corporation in Gothenburg, Sweden.