Volvo Drives Climate Meeting in Copenhagen

SYDNEY – december 7, 2009: Volvo's most fuel efficient models will be used to chauffeur heads of state and other VIPs around Copenhagen for the COP15 Climate Conference, which starts today.

A fleet of 60 Volvo S80 and Volvo V70 vehicles – 40 Flexifuel models powered by bioethanol and the remaining 20 diesel-powered DRIVe models with CO2 emissions of no more than 129 g/km – will be used during the event which runs from December 7 - 18

"We support COP15's efforts to systematically reduce global CO2 emissions," said Stephen Odell, President and CEO of Volvo Car Corporation.

"DRIVe Towards Zero is our vision for developing cars entirely free from harmful exhaust emissions and environment-impacting carbon dioxide. Our aim for 2020 is to bring the average emissions from our models down to 90-100g CO2 per kilometre," said Mr Odell.

Wide range of Flexifuel (E85) cars
Volvo has one of Europe's broadest Flexifuel ranges. All told five models - the Volvo C30, S40, V50, V70 and S80 - are available with one or a choice of two E85 engines.

The Volvo V70 and Volvo S80 in Copenhagen have a five-cylinder 2.5-litre turbocharged Flexifuel engine producing 147 kW and 300 Nm of torque.

Flexifuel cars can be run on bioethanol E85 (85 percent bioethanol, 15 percent petrol) or on unleaded petrol, or on any mixture of these two fuels. The carbon dioxide produced from ethanol is part of nature's own carbon lifecycle.

E85 is not available in Denmark, so a special supply has been made available for the Flexifuel cars on the official vehicle fleet.

Seven DRIVe models
At present, Volvo's DRIVe range consists of a series of seven extremely fuel-efficient diesel models. The Volvo S80 and Volvo V70 DRIVe are powered by a 1.6-litre diesel engine. The fuel consumption (EU Combined) is 4.9 l/100 km, which translates into CO2 emissions of 129 g/km - a particularly competitive figure for large premium cars.

The C30 DRIVe model, which emits an average of 99g/km and sips just 3.8 litres/100km, will be introduced to the Australian market in March 2010.