Geely’s Volvo Car Group today (Monday 13 May, 2013) began production of a new family of four cylinder petrol and diesel engines at its revamped Skövde engine plant.
The company has spent over SEK2bn (US$300m) at the plant over the last two years to bring the engines, which feature driveline electrification, to production.
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The Volvo Engine Architecture (VEA) engines will be launched this autumn in S60, V60, XC60, V70, XC70 and S80 models. The company said it would produce 20,000 this year. VEA replaces eight engines – including six-cylinder units – used on three different platforms.
“This marks a milestone in Volvo Cars’ history. With our new engine family we are focusing on two additional vital properties – driving pleasure and fuel efficiency,” said Derek Crabb, vice president powertrain engineering.
All versions are built on the same line which runs through a new part of the Skövde plant and ensures very efficient production.
“One of the biggest challenges was the remodelling of the line for cylinder block processing,” said Oskar Falk, Volvo’s head of global engine production, adding 30 machining cells were replaced or converted “at a cost of about half a billion kronor”.
The new engines were developed by a Swedish team of engineers. Volvo claims that the new, smaller engines deliver higher performance than today’s six cylinder units, while offering lower fuel consumption than the current generation of four cylinder units.
