Smog-Eating Volvos Arrive in Auto Showrooms Worldwide

5 January 2000

Smog-Eating Volvos Arrive in Auto Showrooms Worldwide; Volvo and Engelhard Spokespersons Available At Detroit Auto Show to Discuss the New Technology

    ISELIN, N.J.--Jan. 4, 2000--Beginning this month consumers will be able to buy a car that actually destroys smog as it is driven. Volvo's 2000-model S80 luxury sedans feature a special coating, called PremAir(R) and developed by Engelhard Corporation, on their radiators that converts ozone in the air that passes over the radiator into oxygen. Ozone is the main component of smog and is linked to respiratory problems. Until now, there has been no way to destroy ozone already in the air.
    Introduction of the smog-eating car will be supported by print and television ad campaigns that emphasize the S80's unique feature with the tag line, "Its real luxury is leaving the world a little better for having gone through it."
    Tests have shown that S80s equipped with PremAir convert as much as 75 percent of the ozone that flows through the radiator into oxygen. The hotter and more polluted the air is, the more efficient PremAir becomes. The purification effect on hot days with high ozone levels can, to a large extent, outweigh the ozone generated from the emissions of a modern car with catalytic conversion.
    Volvo is the first company to commercialize the PremAir coating on cars. The company began working with Engelhard to apply the new technology to vehicles in the summer of 1998. The radiator coating went into commercial production in December 1999 and the first S80s equipped with PremAir radiators are arriving in Volvo showrooms worldwide this month.
    Volvo also intends to incorporate PremAir on its new station wagon, which will be launched at the Detroit Auto Show.
    The development and application of PremAir is the latest in a long line of environmental achievements for the two companies. Volvo and Engelhard also worked together in the 1970s to become the first companies to introduce the modern three-way catalytic converter used on more than 80% of the world's automobiles today.

    EDITORIAL NOTE: Executives from Volvo and Engelhard will be available at the Detroit Auto Show during the media preview days (Jan. 10 - 11) to discuss this exciting innovation. Please contact Denise Lenci of Calumet Communications to schedule an interview. Phone: (914)712-9150 E-mail: CalumetCG@aol.com