Volvo is opening a brand new museum in Gothenburg, Sweden. World of Volvo is situated close to the Volvo Group headquarters and solely 23 miles from Gothenburg Airport. Ahead of the grand opening on April 14th, we interviewed you behind the scenes.
Just across the nook from our headquarters in Munich, Germany, BMW Welt has a double cone. In entrance of the Porsche Museum in Zuffenhausen is the 911 Kebab (also referred to as Porscheplatz). And now, within the coronary heart of downtown Gothenburg, Sweden, his three large tree trunks are the legs and arms of Volvo’s new museum, exhibitions, supply program, assembly place, restaurant and World of Volvo. there’s.
Volvo invited us to discover the brand new facility forward of its grand opening on April 14th. This day, not coincidentally, is the precise day the Swedish automaker’s first car, the four-door ÖV4, rolled off the meeting line 97 years in the past. The roughly 240,000 sq. foot website in Gothenburg was designed by Danish architectural group Henning Larsson. We are 23 miles from Gothenburg Landvetter Airport and simply 17 miles east of Torslanda, dwelling to the Volvo Group’s headquarters and oldest manufacturing facility.
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It’s an attractive Swedish house. There’s no flashy shiny metallic or spaceship-like styling, so it feels down-to-earth, welcoming, and heat. Several media visitors have been overheard praising the scent of spruce and pine, which acts as a pure cover over the constructing’s clean concrete flooring. The high ground homes a number of rental convention halls and lecture rooms, concealing the close by freeway because of the sloping roof beneath. It took him 4 years to design and construct, utilizing roughly 2,800 tons of wooden and a few leftover lamp bulbs from his SAAB gearbox constructing that when occupied a part of the house.
The World of Volvo spans 5 flooring and its entrance respects Sweden’s ‘Allemansretten’, or ‘the suitable of all to roam’, and though admission is free, it additionally options spectacular occasion areas, colourful and interactive exhibition, and a restaurant run by Michelin-starred chef Stefan Karlsson. Each prices a couple of Swedish kronor.
Its debut exhibit balances Volvo’s historical past, dedication to security and future merchandise. There’s additionally a distracted driving simulation, VR goggles, and an space the place you need to use a small Volvo excavator to scoop rubber balls out of holes. One intelligent set up makes use of stacked picket chairs to reveal the function velocity performs in automobile accidents. This is an fascinating solution to evaluate a crash at 15 km/h (9 mph) with no seat belts to a crash at 30 km/h (19 mph). lesson? Not carrying a seatbelt is as good as falling headfirst out of a stack of eight chairs.
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Of course, there is no scarcity of Volvo vehicles, ideas, vans and know-how featured right here. You cannot miss the Volvo Experimental Safety Car (VESC). First unveiled on the 1972 Geneva Auto Show, the idea was a testbed for all kinds of progressive security tools. These embrace entrance and rear airbags, hidden headrests that deploy within the occasion of a collision, and a steering wheel that strikes away from the driving force. In the occasion of a crash, a 6.5 mm F/1.8 rear digicam sends video to his CRT display screen within the dashboard.
Austin Irwin | Cars and Drivers
A white bus was parked in one other room. Painted white and with a crimson cross on the roof to keep away from Allied bombing as they tried to move greater than 15,000 prisoners of conflict to Sweden, these buses have been used as heroic automobiles in the direction of the top of World War II. served a goal. Surrounding the exhibit are literature concerning the nurses, drivers, and troopers who carried out such harmful work.
Austin Irwin | Cars and Drivers
Volvo YCC was on show. I requested if I may take it dwelling, however I used to be instructed no. YCC (Your Concept Car) initially debuted at his 2004 Geneva Auto Show and was constructed for girls by an all-female employees. It featured a particular compartment for storing purses, a headrest designed to comfortably accommodate ponytails, and a washable seat. The staff additionally offered his YCC gullwing doorways, a particular mission that went on to win quite a few awards for its design and efforts.
Austin Irwin | Cars and Drivers
Other automobiles on show embrace tractors, boats, logging vans, and semi-trucks. His white F88 from the Nineteen Seventies has that which means on the highest of the cab. The Globetrotter was the best trim degree of Volvo vans, and the nickname remains to be used immediately for Volvo vans particularly designed for long-distance journey. It goes again to a time when fridges, kitchens, and spacious cabs have been impressed by American truck manufacturing firms.
The FH, Volvo’s greatest promoting truck in historical past, is on show behind the F88. It was first produced in 1993. This FH12 of his is only the start of the Volvo vans at the moment on sale. Quite a lot of electrical, gasoline and diesel powertrains are at the moment provided. Exhibits massive and small enter the house through an enormous freight elevator that may carry as much as 48,500 kilos of Volvo historical past simply outdoors the constructing. There’s extra ice wine than you possibly can drink in a single go to.
The World of Volvo constructing would be the dwelling of worldwide supply providers, so its location relative to the airport and meeting plant shall be crucial. This website is the results of a joint effort between Volvo Cars and the Volvo Group, and is meant to be the house for future product bulletins, TED Talks, and (we hope) the editors of Cars and Drivers. I’m. That excavator once more.
Tickets might be bought on the World of Volvo web site or at check-in. Choose an annual move to obtain a small low cost on future occasions and limitless admission all year long.
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Yes, he is nonetheless engaged on the 1986 Nissan 300ZX Turbo mission automobile he began in highschool. No, it isn’t on the market but. Austin Irwin was born and raised in Michigan, and regardless of being hit by hockey pucks throughout a not-so-successful highschool and school goaltending profession, he nonetheless has his enamel. He loves his 1980’s vehicles and his nice Pyrenean blues, he loves his buffaloes, he loves his wild wings and he’s an energetic member of the neighborhood. When Austin is not engaged on his personal automobile, he is most likely on the facet of the freeway serving to different folks repair their vehicles.