I watched XC90s being built at the Volvo factory in Sweden

[GPX]

I was in Gothenburg, Sweden, for work recently, and I thought I may as well do the Volvo factory tour. I'm glad I did, it was interesting.

I thought the Volvo XC90 construction was the most interesting of all. The factory was built for normal car sizes, and the Volvo XC90 is bigger than anything they thought they were going to build. So the XC90 is too big for the production line in some places. This means they have to keep taking it off the line and doing things separately. It needs separate robots and more attention from humans. It's like watching a Rolls-Royce being built, the care and pride they take in making an XC90. It's clearly still considered the king of the range to them.

Interestingly it was still the old model they were building, not the upcoming new one. They said they weren't surprised the old one was still being ordered by customers, they still consider it a great vehicle. (They never make a Volvo without a customer order: when you order a Volvo, it is custom-made for you - there is no parking lot full of built, unsold cars like with other brands).

They have a program for US customers where you can order your Volvo in the US, then fly to Sweden when it's ready, do the factory tour, collect your new Volvo from the factory, drive it around Europe for as long as you like, and then leave it with them and they ship it to the US. Several retired couples were doing that when I was there. Something to think about for when you order your new-model XC90!

[TelstarFlyer]

WOW, that sounds great
I would love to do this! You have also made me like myXC90 more
You didn't perhaps get names of technicians able/willing to help us on electronic questions? - hehe

[dmd]

The program was called Over Seas Delivery when we picked our 2005 up in Sweden. A real good price going that route. We put about 1700 miles
on it when we were there. Even drove to Berlin (with a ferry ride in the middle). Had a bunch of fun with the wife's Swedish relatives.