It’s official – the controversial announcement from Volvo last year to limit the top-speed of all new vehicles to 180 km/h is now being implemented on new cars rolling off the production lines. The move is part of a larger vision from the Swedish carmaker to achieve zero serious injuries and fatalities in traffic.
In addition to the new speed limit, all new Volvo cars will also come with a Care Key, allowing owners to set additional speed limitations – we figure this might be particularly useful for those with rebellious teens at home.
Volvo believes that the move is more than just a speed limit, but also to promote discussions around speeding. Head of Volvo Cars Safety Centre, Malin Ekholm said, “We believe that a car maker has a responsibility to help improve traffic safety. Our speed limiting technology, and the dialogue that it initiated, fits that thinking.
“The speed cap and Care Key help people reflect and realise that speeding is dangerous, while also providing extra peace of mind and supporting better driver behaviour.”
Speaking to Autocar UK, she added: “We decided there really is no reason to go faster than 180 km/h. 180 km/h is still fast, so is that going to be the end of speeding? No, it’s not, but it’s still a limitation. Everyone talks about speed and speeding, and we wanted to do something to show that we’re serious.”
According to Ekholm, Volvo customers’ response to the new speed limit had largely been “very supportive” since the announcement last year. Moving forward, the carmaker will look towards curbing the issues of driver intoxication and distraction through in-car driver monitoring systems.
Locally, Volvo Car Malaysia Managing Director Nalin Jain confirmed that the recently-launched locally-assembled S60 T8 R-Design will not come with said speed limit on the first batch of vehicles rolling out of the assembly plant in Shah Alam – later ones will still be subjected to the global Volvo directive.
