Press releases 1997

Volvo Car Corporation is establishing a company for special vehicles such as police cars, ambulances, limousines, armour-plated cars etc. Walter Fortgens, former technical project leader for the S40/V40 series among his many positions at Volvo, has been appointed head of the new company.

Toronto - March 22, 1997 - Volvo Construction Equipment N.V. announced today that approximately 11,390,050 common shares (representing approximately 98.8% of the issued and outstanding shares) of Champion Road Machinery Limited have been deposited under the previously announced offer by its Canadian wholly-owned subsidiary to acquire all of the common shares of Champion at Cdn$15.00 per share. The offer, which was subject to certain conditions, expired at 12:00 midnight (Toronto time) on March 21, 1997 at which time all of the conditions applicable to the offer had been satisfied or waived.

Volvo Aero Corporation today reached a definitive decision to relocate Volvo Aero's operations in Arboga to Trollhättan.

As announced previously, AB Volvo intends to implement a voluntary redemption of a maximum of 5% of the shares in the company, corresponding to every 20th share. The premium, in excess of the market price, amounts to SEK 40 for each share redeemed. In total, the offer amounts to approximately SEK 5.2 billion.

Prior to Volvo's Annual General Meeting on April 23, Volvo's nominating committee has decided to propose Håkan Frisinger as the new Chairman of AB Volvo's Board, succeeding the late Bert-Olof Svanholm.

Volvo Personvagnar hade under första halvåret 1996 en svag försäljningsutveckling, särskilt på den europeiska marknaden. Situationen förbättrades dock mot slutet av året i och med att produktionsinfasningen av Volvo S40/V40 då var avklarad. Produktionen av den nya modellen uppgick till 71.000 enheter och överträffade därmed de planerade 65.000. Året kännetecknades också av fortsatt framgång för Volvo 850 (+5%) och en starkare ställning i segmentet för större bilar i både USA och Japan.

In December 1996, the production facilities for transmissions at the Volvo Car Components Corporation and Volvo Truck Corporations in Köping were inspected by Lloyds of England. The result was that both these facilities are now approved for registration under new EU Eco Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), as well as being certified according to ISO 14001.

Volvo Construction Equipment Corporation has today entered into an agreement with the canadian company Champion Road Machinery Limited, pursuant to which Volvo will make an offer to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Champion at a price of CAD 15.00 per share, subject to certain conditions. The offered price corresponds to a total price of approximately CAD 173 million.

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