All new Volvo cars will come limited to a speed of just 112mph, a polarising decision from the Swedish car manufacturer, but one which will ultimately save lives.
The company announced in March 2019 that they were considering the plans, with the aim of getting to zero serious injuries and fatalities in traffic - a move which exceeds current legislation across Europe, but comes ahead of the EU bringing in their own regulations in 2023 on speed limiters.
Volvo have also announced a new technology Care Key, which will allow owners to set additional limitations on the car’s top speed, for example before lending their car to other family members or to younger and inexperienced drivers.
“112 mph is still fast, so is it going to be the end of speeding? No, it’s not,” Volvo’s Car Safety Head, Malin Ekholm said in an interview with Autocar.
“It’s a limitation, and there really is no reason to go faster than 112 mph. Everyone talks about speeding, but we wanted to do something to show we’re serious. That will initiate an in-depth dialogue on the subject.”
“How do we balance the freedom to move with safety, what does the road map look like and how do we include the sceptics? The speed cap is the first step to looking into what is safe speed – and how do we help you maintain it,” Ekholm added. “Twenty years ago, it wasn’t necessarily fun to drive fast, because it wasn’t comfortable. Now cars are fantastic and behave the same at any speed, so how can we translate the old signals you got that you were going very fast into a modern context?”