Ye Chao has a good impression of Volvo Cars.

Because, it is a people-oriented car that first considers people's safety......

That's what it's designed for......

Sales and marketing management for all trucking companies is organized in three regional organizations: Group Trucks Americas, Group Trucks Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Group Trucks Asia Pacific.

Product planning, product development and procurement of the Group's trucks and engines are vested in the Group's truck technology companies, the manufacturing and logistics services of trucks and engines are divided into the Group's truck manufacturing companies, and the group's truck joint ventures are merged into the truck joint venture.

Production, product planning and market development remained unchanged in the non-truck segments, with Volvo CE remaining the same in other business areas (including Volvo Aerospace, Volvo Buses, Volvo Penta and Government Procurement) as well as in the financial and business support areas.

Looking back on the history of automobile development, the progress of design and production methods has played a huge role in the popularization of automobiles and meeting the increasing needs of consumers, it can be said that after experiencing the same chassis and platform production, the development trend of modern automobile industry has been very obvious, that is, Volvo, Volkswagen, BMW and other European manufacturers actively promote the "modular" strategy.

Recently, Volvo Car Group announced that the core parts of the next generation of Volvo cars: scalable vehicle platform architecture and engine cluster, have completed major research and development work, and have entered the operational stage of substantive product design and production facility upgrades.

Looking back on history, Ford pioneered the production of assembly line cars, so that the car has been rapidly popularized, GM's same chassis strategy allows different brands of products to show different styles, in the 60s of the 20th century, European car manufacturers began to apply the platform method to design and produce cars, can be based on a "car platform" to design several functional uses and different styles of products, to achieve higher efficiency and scale of production.

However, this method is not perfect, affected by the initial design of the platform, the product has great limitations in technological upgrading, and it is increasingly unable to meet the market competition and consumer needs in the new era.

In this context, Volkswagen has launched module platforms such as MQB, and European luxury car manufacturers such as BMW and Volvo have also launched their own modular strategies, actively promoting the transition from platform to modular production mode.

Volvo's SPA scalable module platform takes into account the many aspects of the design and production of future vehicles, including new products with better energy efficiency, environmental protection, drivability and electrification technologies, the need for flexible production to meet the needs of increasingly emerging markets, and a full range of digital "connected car" services.

First, emissions regulations are becoming more stringent around the world. In the next 4-5 years, automakers will actively adjust their product lines and develop low-carbon and environmentally friendly engines. Volvo's SPA and VEA provide more room for expansion of battery engines as part of Volvo's engine electrification strategy.

The VA Volvo Engine Cluster is also the result of a scalable, modular design that includes Volvo's next-generation four-cylinder petrol and diesel engine clusters, with significantly improved performance through cutting-edge technologies such as electrification, turbocharging, direct injection, variable intake and exhaust timing, to meet all known emissions regulations worldwide by 2017.

Compared to previous products, the VAE engine system can be reduced by up to 90 kg while improving fuel economy by up to 35 percent.

Secondly, the scalable module platform is compatible with automatic start-stop technology, hybrid technology, and pure electric drive electrification strategy, and Volvo's petrol, diesel, hybrid and pure electric products are designed and produced on the same platform, which not only allows Volvo Cars to continue to maintain its leading position in the field of electrification, but also reduces the production cost of new power technology and new model development through scalable modular design and common components.

Third, the diversification of global market demand, especially the growing demand from emerging markets, has become a major driver of the growth of the global automotive market.

Volvo's SPA and VEA expandable module platform can achieve a high degree of modularity, and the expandable module breaks the design limitations of wheelbase, suspension, vehicle height and front face height in the traditional sense, and can achieve modular design and production regardless of the size of the body, and the SPA platform can design urban SUVs, ordinary family cars, station wagons and other levels and types of models, including a new generation of series products.

It is reported that the first model based on the SPA platform architecture, the new generation Volvo XC90, will be launched at the end of 2014.

Fourth, digital "connected car" services will change the way cars live around the world, and Volvo's SPA expandable module provides a scalable interface for future multimedia car communications.

"This flexible, modular production has proven to be the future of the automotive industry, which will not only take full advantage of synergies and effectively reduce costs, but will also increase the company's strategic flexibility to respond to environmental changes and bring about profound changes to the internal R&D and innovation model. Hanken Samuelson, President and CEO of Volvo Car Group, said.

Fifth, Volvo and the Swedish company Trafikverket have cooperated to develop a magnet system for unmanned cars, and are committed to developing unmanned cars, which can navigate unmanned cars and prevent "derailment".

Indeed, in "modularization", the design and production of automobiles are separated from the original integration, and each subsystem is divided into "modules" for design and production, so that it can standardize the production of many parts of different types and levels of models, and at the same time can be equipped with various emerging technologies.

The production standards of low-end models will be on par with those of high-end models, and the price of high-end models will be more competitive while ensuring quality, and the technical upgrading of vehicles will be more convenient. In addition to the industrial advantages brought by cost-effectiveness, the product advantages brought by "modularity" are also very obvious, and the two new architectures of SPA and VEA will bring more competitive and attractive products to consumers around the world in terms of design, driving pleasure, emissions and other aspects.

It can be seen that the substantive operation of SPA and VEA platforms is of great significance to Volvo Cars. In this way, Volvo not only proved that it had regained its "technological independence" after the 2010 merger, but also further strengthened the direction of its future technology: to achieve more flexible design and lower production costs while improving the environmental protection, drivability and electrification of future products.

It is foreseeable that the promotion of the scalable modular strategy will enable Volvo Cars to demonstrate a significant competitive advantage in the future design and production and subsequent product upgrades.

Gothenburg is home to the prestigious Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Gothenburg, as well as many institutes engaged in basic and applied research in science, technology and new technologies of the future.

Ye Chao feels that these courtyards are all hotbeds of Volvo's talents.