Volvo Bus UK has taken a group of London and South East Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) members to Gothenburg, Sweden, to take a closer look at the company’s recent and future developments in the industry and to have the opportunity to test drive some vehicles.
The trip was organised by Karen Tiley – CPT London & South East Regional Manager, with operators invited to attend on a first come, first served basis.
The trip was so popular that it was oversubscribed within 24 hours of the booking form being released.
To accommodate for this, the trip ended up including a larger than originally planned group of 38 operators in addition to six Volvo and CPT staff.
The three day trip included a visit to the Volvo engine plant and foundry in Skovde, while in Gothenburg the group visited the Volvo cars brand experience centre, Volvo trucks demo centre (where a number of trucks and an integral 9700 featuring Volvo Dynamic Steering were available to test drive) and finally the Volvo Museum.
As well as time on the test track, the trip included a number of presentations talking about future developments, especially on the cars front, where self-driving vehicles, remote connectivity, environment credentials and Volvo’s vision for zero fatalities or serious injuries in a Volvo product were thoroughly discussed.