Volvo Cars of North America Sponsor S60 R GT Team

IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 14, 2004 -- Following a record-breaking sales year in 2003, Volvo Cars of North America will take the battle for supremacy in the premium car market into a totally new 'arena' for 2004 -- the racetracks of the USA.

The company's first foray into racing in the US will be spearheaded by a retailer-backed four car Volvo team in the 2004 SPEED World Challenge GT Series run by At Speed Motorsports and featuring Le Mans racing legend, Derek Bell, as lead driver.

The racing Volvo S60 Rs will be enhanced versions of the recently launched and highly acclaimed Volvo high performance sedan. Changes to the stock S60 R models will be announced closer to the start of the World Challenge season and will boost the already potent 300 BHP speedster's abilities by a significant amount.

Bell will be joined for the 2004 season by At Speed Motorsports' owner and 2001 World Challenge GT Rookie of the Year, Bob Miller. Journeyman racer Paul Gerrard will make up the rest of the Volvo trio, with Miller serving in the dual capacity of team strategic director and racer. A fourth driver will be announced later.

The decision to underscore the performance heritage of the Volvo "R" series came as the natural result of established reactions to the car from automotive journalists and owner enthusiasts. "European Car magazine selected the S60 R as its top-choice for 2003 and with every media road test we heard praise for its all-around performance and style," says Vic Doolan, President and CEO of Volvo Cars of North America. "It was inevitable that we would seek out a place to flex Volvo's newest high-performance muscles and the SPEED World Challenge GT Series along with At Speed seemed an appropriate combination."

"We also want everyone to see us coming, especially since Bell will be in the command seat," added Doolan. "This meant combining the talents of Volvo's Camarillo, CA design center and At Speed Motorsports to come up with a paint scheme that no one could miss!" As a result, the Volvo race cars will initially be liveried in dramatic 'mirror effect' blue and silver design, highlighted in red. The retro pop-art design is reminiscent of the race cars of the seventies and eighties when Derek Bell won five 24-Hour races at Le Mans and racked-up an impressive series of sports car and endurance race wins. Bell began his career in 1964 and also raced in Formula One in 1968 when signed by Ferrari. He is by all standards a racer's racer and icon for the sport.

Bell will drive the full season for At Speed, and return to the duties he had as an in-car announcer for Speed Channel before missing the 2003 season. "I am ecstatic to be part of Volvo's first motorsport involvement in the United States and it will be good to be back in the GT Series. Between driving, announcing, and helping to develop the new race car, this should be an exciting year for me. I enjoyed racing against Bob in the past, and I'm looking forward to working with Volvo and to driving with Bob and Paul in 2004."

   VOLVO RACING: Green Flag Drops on Derek Bell, At Speed Motorsports,
                             and S60 R Combo

What's a five-time Le Mans winner and former Formula One pilot doing behind the wheel of a Volvo S60 R sedan? "Intending to bring Volvo success on the track to match its record sales performance," says Derek Bell -- lead driver of At Speed Motorsports' GT effort -- a four car campaign set to run the SPEED World Challenge GT Series in North America during 2004.

Volvo Cars has recently shifted into top gear when it comes to both product array and market position. "In less than four years we have expanded our S80 sedan line; launched the most popular Volvo ever -- the S60 -- including the high-performance S60 R; brought to market Volvo's first ever SUV with record-setting results; upgraded our wagon line while celebrating fifty-years of wagon heritage; and launched a totally new replacement for the Volvo S40 sedan along with a new wagon, the Volvo V50. Today, Volvo and its dealers are reaching new buyers in new ways -- while reminding established owners or former customers why they see value in the Volvo brand," said Volvo Cars of North America President and CEO, Vic Doolan.

With a rich racing heritage in rallying, European touring cars and the highly competitive British Touring Car Championship, the credentials for Volvo to show its mettle on the racetrack are not in doubt. And with ETCC and BTCC championships already part of this motorsport resume, the USA was a natural new opportunity for Volvo Cars of North America to show its latest performance car package -- the Volvo S60 R -- in a retailer-backed program with At Speed Motorsports.

"With the arrival of the S60 R, the 300bhp V70 R wagon and the new S40 ... we think it's about time that Volvo re-joined our racing brethren and inject a bit of Swedish flair to the World Challenge series," Doolan added. "With Derek Bell and teammates Bob Miller and Paul Gerrard racing identically painted Volvos, we'll promote Volvo's racing heritage and our latest engineering concepts." The cars will sport a racing livery designed jointly by the Volvo Monitoring and Concept Center in California and At Speed Motorsports in Maryland.

One thing can be counted on, Volvo Cars of North America will never claim that the decision to 'go racing' is to help develop the brand. "While it may sound good to say that racing innovations filter down to the consumer, this is unlikely to be the case with this campaign. Our customers already know Volvo to be a serious brand and the premier developer of safety technologies. We also make beautiful cars that in the right hands can perform at world-class levels and we think it's time to remind our dealers, our customers and potential buyers that Volvo is a spirited company that loves to compete. Where better place to show our mettle than at premier circuits across the United States," Doolan concluded.

OVERVIEW OF VOLVO RACING HISTORY

Volvo may have a reputation for safety first, but it has also proved itself as a titan of top-level touring car racing throughout the world. The Swedish manufacturer is one of the few to have tasted victory in the discipline's hallowed triple crown -- the European Touring Car Championship (ETCC), the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) and the legendary Bathurst 1000 in Australia.

Until 1984, Volvo's most notable motorsporting activity had come in the late 1950s and early '60s, when its Amazon model was a success in the grueling European rallies of the age, held over marathon courses all over the continent.

Encouraged by the efforts of Swedish Privateer Thomas Lindstrom, Volvo entered the ETCC in 1984 with its three-liter turbocharged 240 Turbo. It was a learning year, which was capitalized on spectacularly in '85, when the 240 defeated work teams from Rover and BMW to win the title.

There was one more season in '86, but the team only managed to bring the 240 Turbo three more victories.

The ETCC was on the skids by now, but over the course of the next decade the BTCC exploded in popularity. Volvo entered the series in 1994 with a most unusual weapon -- the 850 Estate.

Run by the TWR motorsports organization, the car had the last laugh, due mainly to some storming performances from Volvo's talented young Swede, Rickard Rydell.

With a conventional 850 saloon the following year, Rydell and TWR used their lessons from the Estate to take a record 13 pole positions and third place in the championship, a position they matched in '96.

The more aerodynamic S40 replaced the boxy 850 for '97. It was a learning year, Rydell taking fourth in the championship before sweeping all before him in '98 and winning the coveted BTCC title. For good measure, he teamed up with Australian veteran Jim Richards to win at the Bathurst 1000 as well.

Rydell again led the attack in '99 in his bid for a second title, winding up in third place in the championship, in what proved to be Volvo's final year in the BTCC.

In 2001 and 2002 Volvo took its new sedan, the S60 into the ETCC with the English based Prodrive team and after a developmental year secured a creditable 8 podium places in the second season, with Rickard Rydell again leading the charge. At the end of 2002, Volvo announced its withdrawal from the international racing scene.

                                Derek Bell

                           MOTORSPORTS SUMMARY

   1964      Started racing in Lotus 7, won his first race at Goodwood!
   1965      Raced F3 in Lotus Ford with several wins
   1966      Raced F3 Lotus 41 in Europe with mixed success but gained
             invaluable experience
   1967      Raced in F3 Brabham Ford with many wins
   1968      Raced in F2 Brabham Ford but after some fine showings tested by
             Ferrari ... pole position at Monza in first race
   1968/69   Factory Driver for Ferrari in F2 and F1 Grand Prix's
   1975      Le Mans 24 Hour Winner
   1981      Le Mans 24 Hour Winner
   1982      Le Mans 24 Hour Winner
             British Guild of Motoring Writers' Driver of the Year
   1984      BRDC Gold Star Winner
   1985      World Sports Car Champion
             RAC Plaque d'Honneur
             British Guild of Motoring Writers' Driver of the Year
   1986      World Sports Car Champion
             Le Mans 24 Hour Winner
             Daytona 24 Hour Winner
             Awarded MBE by the Queen for services to Motor Racing
             BRDC Gold Star Winner
   1987      Le Mans 24 Hour Winner
             Daytona 24 Hour Winner
             BRDC Gold Star Winner
   1989      Daytona 24 Hour Winner
   1995      Most memorable Le Mans moment -- Finishing third with son
             Justin in a Mclaren
   1997      Commentator for ESPN on F1 Racing in the USA
   1998      Racing Sports cars in the USA
             Voted the Greatest Sportscar Driver in the last 50 years in
             a poll by Silverstone Circuits
             Received the Spirit of Goodwood award
             Commentator for Foxsports Net on F1 Racing in the USA
   1999      Commentator for Foxsports Net on F1 racing
   2000      Commentator for Foxsports Net on F1 racing and Raced for
             Speedvision in the USA in Audi S4 with Champion Racing
   2001      Raced for Speed Channel in Audi S4 with Champion Racing
             Under contract to Bentley Motor Cars as Consultant and Test
             Driver
   2002      Raced for Speed Channel in Audi S4 with Champion Racing
             Under contract to Bentley Motor Cars
             Made an Honorary Citizen of the City of Le Mans, France
             Honored by the ACO with the Spirit of 'Le Mans Award'
   2003      Under contract to Bentley Motor Cars
             Contested the 24 Hrs of Daytona with son Justin in a Corvette
             He was honored by the RRDC of the USA at Daytona when Bobby
             Rahal presented him with the Phil Hill Outstanding Achievement
             Award.
             Finished 2nd in a Daytona Cobra at Monterey Classic
             Finished 2nd in a Jaguar Saloon car at Goodwood
             Drove Le Mans Bentley for circa 1000 miles testing in Spain and
             France during October.
             In a poll by a panel of top World Motoring journalists
             selecting the 20 Greatest Sports Car Drivers ever for
             Motorsport magazine, Derek was voted in position #4 behind
             Ickx, Moss and Rodriguez

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