Safest fleets in U.S. and Canada to vie for Volvo Trucks Safety Award

Smart fleet managers have always known that safety pays. Now the payoff from safety will be $50,000, thanks to the “Volvo Trucks Safety Award”. In a bold initiative, Volvo Trucks North America will award $25,000 each to two fleets with the best driving records in 2008. The money is awarded to help fund additional safety activities at the winning fleets.
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“Safety is Volvo Trucks’ bedrock value,” said Scott Kress, senior vice president – sales & marketing.  “It has been our number one priority since the very founding of Volvo more than 80 years ago and it guides virtually all product decisions we make.  Many of our customers share this passion and invest their time and resources to achieve safe operations in their fleets.  The Volvo Trucks Safety Award is a way to recognize fleets with truly superior safety programs and records, and to encourage others to emulate them.”

“Instituting this award program continues Volvo Trucks’ commitment to making highways safer, whether through our sponsorship of America’s Road Team or by making active safety systems such as Volvo Enhanced Stability Technology (VEST) standard on our trucks,” Kress said.

The Volvo Trucks Safety Award is open to all U.S. and Canadian fleets operating at least five Class 8 units.  Fleets will be ranked by their accident frequency rates, using the U.S. Department of Transportation definition of a “recordable accident.”  Entrants will also be judged on their accident prevention activities.  The deadline for entry is June 30, 2009.  The winners of the award will be announced in Fall 2009.

The two grand prizes will be awarded to the fleets with the best records in two divisions based on annual vehicle miles traveled: less than 10 million miles and over 10 million miles.  Complete rules and entry forms are at www.volvotruckssafetyaward.com.

Volvo Trucks North America’s operations and products are guided by the company’s three core values:  Safety, Quality and Environmental Care.  The Volvo VT, VN and VHD trucks are assembled in the United States at the New River Valley Plant in Dublin, Virginia, while Volvo engines for North America are assembled in Hagerstown, Maryland.  Both plants are certified to ISO14001 environmental and ISO9001 quality standards.  Volvo also sponsors America’s Road Team, a national highway safety outreach program.

Volvo Trucks North America is part of the Volvo Group, one of the world's leading manufacturers of trucks, buses and construction equipment, drive systems for marine and industrial applications, aerospace components and services, and heavy-diesel engines (9-16 liter). The Group also provides complete solutions for financing and service. The Volvo Group, which employs about 100,000 people, has production facilities in 19 countries and sells their products in more than 180 markets. Annual sales of the Volvo Group amount to over $42 billion. The Volvo Group is a publicly-held company headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden. Volvo Shares are listed on OMX Nordic Exchange Stockholm and are traded OTC in the U.S.

January 9, 2009

For further information, please contact Jim McNamara, Volvo Trucks North America, phone 336-393-2143, email james.mcnamara@volvo.com

www.volvotrucks.us.com