Production of new Volvo engine starts

Volvo Car Group is now starting production of the first engine variants in the new, high efficiency four-cylinder engine family. The development and production will form a vital part of the company's strategy for independence.

With total control over the development and production of engines and drivelines and by reducing the number of engine variants, the result is increased flexibility.

In Volvo Car Group's engine plant in Skövde, preparations for the production start of the new Volvo Engine Architecture (VEA) engines have been under way for about two years.

One of the highlights is a brand-new, state-of-the-art addition to the plant for assembly of the new engines. All versions are built on the same line, which runs through the new part of the plant and makes for very efficient production.

Development and investment in the new engine family is part of a comprehensive expansion plan at Volvo Cars. About two billion kronor (S$1.8 billion) were invested in the Skövde plant. This secures operations there and a large number of jobs for a long time to come. The investment is the most important in the engine plant's history.

The new VEA engines were developed by a Swedish team of engineers. The new, smaller engines are optimised and deliver higher performance than today's six-cylinder units, while offering lower fuel consumption than the current generation of four-cylinder units.

"During the development of VEA, the starting point was our customers and what we wanted to offer them in regard to good fuel economy, low environmental impact and immense driving pleasure at an attractive price. At the same time, however, it's also about the fact that Volvo Cars gets a sound basis for developing future-generation technologies featuring fuel economy of absolute world class," said Derek Crabb, Vice President, Powertrain Engineering.

VEA consists of four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines. Together with driveline electrification, VEA replaces the previous eight engine architectures on three different platforms.

The new engines will be introduced between 2013 and 2015. Almost 20,000 engines will be produced in 2013, and by the end of the year, the production pace will be 2,000 units a week.

The first variants will be fitted to the Volvo S60, V60, XC60, V70, XC70 and S80 in the third quarter of 2013.