Premium car manufacturers are used to comparing the performance of their products or the luxury features they offer in trying to lure buyers from the competition.
They do things differently in Sweden.
But while Volvo Car Corp. and Saab Automobile AB are redesigning their car lines and images, which will have important implications for customers in Europe and North America, one constant remains at both companies: An emphasis on safety.
“This is one of our core values for the past 30 years,” says Tuve Johannesson, president and chief executive of Volvo. “It is not just a gimmick with Volvo, but a social responsibility–almost a moral backbone for the company. We have an uncompromising, deep commitment to safety, and we intend to remain the leader and innovator.”
Keith Butler-Wheelhouse, president and chief executive of Saab, says: “Part of Saab’s front-wheel-drive heritage is the vehicle’s agility–its great emergency and poor-weather handling. But we also have one of the best vehicle safety records in the world. Our customers expect us to maintain our leadership in safety. It’s a big pillar in our brand character.”
While competitors from Europe, Japan and North American have dramatically improved the safety of their vehicles, Volvo and Saab still rate among the highest in occupancy protection in the world.
Volvo’s best-selling 850 series was one of the first to offer side air bags in addition to the standard front bags for driver and passenger, making for one of the most complete safety packages available as standard equipment. The front-wheel-drive 850 sedan and wagon also come with anti-lock brakes, traction control, side-impact door beams, child-proof rear-door locks and daytime running lights, plus a center cushion for a child in the backseat. Early next year, the company will begin marketing an all-wheel-drive edition of the 850 wagon, with even better tractability in inclement weather.
The Saab 900 Turbo is noteworthy for its performance, but doesn’t shirk on safety. The ’96 model has dual air bags, ABS, side-impact door beams, child-proof rear door locks and daytime running lights, as well as heated outside mirrors.
Saab and Volvo offer another feature useful in wintry climes: Headlamp washers and wipers.
Saab will begin offering side air bags next year on a new flagship sedan that’s known only by its development code name, Project 640. The company also is teaming with its General Motors cousin Delphi Automotive Systems in offering a new type of safety seat on the 640 sedan called Pro-Tech that helps prevent whiplash in rear-end collisions.
“With the safe-seat concept, we’ll lead the way in what we think will be quite a revolutionary breakthrough in (preventing) neck injuries from rear impacts,” said Butler-Wheelhouse.
“Our customers want all areas of the vehicle–externally, internally–to be as safe as possible for the passengers,” Butler-Wheelhouse adds. “For many of our buyers, that’s one of their greatest motivations for purchase, the safety aspect.”
Butler-Wheelhouse said the company conducts market research in Europe and focus groups in the U.S. to test new safety concepts on consumers, as well as to gauge how much buyers will pay for certain safety features.
Volvo is integrating the safety message in its marketing pitch, as it attempts to broaden its audience and lower the median age of its buyers to 30 from 40.
“Safety is an issue that concerns all ages,” Johannesson says. “That is part of the Volvo concept. We feel that we are very much in harmony with the trends in society. Even people 30 years old are concerned about safety.”
Asked whether a vehicle can be too safe, Johannesson responds: “I don’t think so. It’s an endless thing. It’s in the minds of all our engineers. You have it constantly in the dialogue–safety, safety, safety. And I think if you ask this question in 10 years, you will find that we have moved forward, not only as a company, but the industry itself.”
But Butler-Wheelhouse says that when it comes to safety features, carmakers can reach a point of diminishing returns because of cost.
