Volvo Cars celebrates four million cars produced on SPA architecture
Volvo Cars has built the four millionth car on its groundbreaking first-generation Scalable Product Architecture* (SPA). Debuting in 2014 with the second-generation Volvo XC90, SPA laid the foundation for the modern Volvo brand of today. It transformed the company’s production by allowing diverse models, powertrains, and technologies to be built on a shared architecture and assembly line, significantly cutting costs.
SPA is the product of a proudly Swedish-led R&D effort, designed and developed in-house. Since its inception, it has underpinned six different models, produced across three continents and in four countries: Belgium, China, Sweden and the US.
The milestone car, a Volvo XC90, recently rolled off the production line at the company’s plant in Sweden.
“SPA spearheaded our company’s rebirth as a modern and premium brand,” says Michael Fleiss, chief strategy and product officer of Volvo Cars. “To this day, it remains the foundation for some of the most successful Volvo models in history and it continues to reach new heights as we further improve on it.”
As Volvo Cars celebrates this milestone, the company also highlights the many benefits that the flexibility of SPA has delivered to customers worldwide.
SPA introduced several world-first safety features that helped make the XC90 and later models some of the safest cars in the world. The list includes features such as the run-off road protection package, and the auto brake function at intersections. Another example is the safety cage, which was further improved thanks to an increased use of high-strength boron steel. Many of these features continue to be enhanced, ensuring that Volvo customers benefit from them – both now and in the future.
In addition, the platform gave the design team greater creative freedom, resulting in the striking and now-signature ‘Thor’s Hammer’ running lights. It also introduced the groundbreaking ‘Twin Engine’, a combination of petrol power and electric propulsion that is still being used in Volvo’s plug-in hybrid models today.
Looking ahead, key insights from SPA will be carried forward into the SPA2 and upcoming SPA3 platforms, continuing to shape and power the Volvo cars of tomorrow. And with over-the-air software updates, many of the SPA-based cars on the road continue to receive upgrades to this day, free of charge.
The small print
*Refers to first-generation SPA platform only and does not include cars produced on SPA2 platform.
The Volvo XC60, the company’s current best-selling model, is based on the first-generation SPA platform, with additional production set to begin at the Charleston plant in the US next year. The other current models produced on the platform are the S60, V60, S90 and XC90.
Per ulteriori informazioni, si prega di consultare il Volvo Cars Newsroom.
Simon Krappl
Volvo Cars nel 2024
Nel 2024, il Volvo Car Group ha registrato un utile operativo di base da record, pari a 27 miliardi di corone svedesi, mentre i ricavi hanno raggiunto il massimo storico di 400,2 miliardi di corone svedesi. Le vendite si sono attestate alla cifra record di 763.389 autovetture a livello mondiale.
Il Volvo Car Group
Volvo Cars è stata fondata nel 1927 e oggi è uno dei marchi automobilistici più noti e stimati al mondo, con vendite a clienti in oltre 100 Paesi. Volvo Cars è quotata alla borsa Nasdaq di Stoccolma, dove è negoziata con il ticker «VOLCAR B».
«Per la vita. Dare alle persone la libertà di muoversi in modo personale, sostenibile e sicuro.» Tale obiettivo si riflette nell’ambizione di Volvo Cars di diventare un produttore con una gamma di auto completamente elettriche entro e nel suo impegno per una continua riduzione dell’impronta di carbonio, con la prospettiva di raggiungere le zero le emissioni nette di gas serra entro il 2040.
A dicembre 2024, Volvo Cars contava un organico di circa 42.600 persone impiegate a tempo pieno. La sede centrale di Volvo Cars si trova a Göteborg, in Svezia, dove viene svolta gran parte delle attività di sviluppo dei prodotti, marketing e amministrazione. Gli impianti di produzione di Volvo Cars si trovano a Göteborg, Gand (Belgio), nella Carolina del Sud (USA), a Chengdu, Daqing e Taizhou (Cina). L’azienda ha inoltre centri di ricerca e sviluppo e progettazione a Göteborg e Shanghai (Cina).
