IMPROVE ROADS TO MOVE BUSINESS

Everything we consume, use, touch, and see has been transported by a truck or some other means of transportation at one point! At Volvo Group we produce trucks, buses, earthmoving equipment, marine engines and airplane components globally as well as in our plants in the United States. With our products, we meet the needs of our modern society as we know it today. We are truly moving the world.


- Our Mack Trucks refuse vehicles transport about 2 million tons of refuse every week.
- One in every seven meals consumed in Europe is made from ingredients that had been transported at some time by a Volvo Truck.

- If all the Volvo buses in the world were running simultaneously, they would transport more than 10 million people combined.
- Every day, 300,000 construction machines from the Volvo Group are used to build roads and structures, in mines, forestry operations, and on farms.
- Throughout the world there are more than 200,000 industrial engines from Volvo Penta, used, among other things, to ensure power supply for hospitals, airports, and irrigation systems.

- Every year, 2 billion people fly all over the planet. In 2009, Volvo Aero supplied components to more than 90 percent of the world’s large civilian aircraft engines.
- 80 percent of all the snow that falls in Japan is plowed with vehicles from UD Trucks, owned by the Volvo Group.

Compelling, isn’t it!

Our products are delivering and performing necessary functionalities, upon which the American society and societies around the world are increasingly dependent today. It is therefore vital that we continue to invest in our infrastructure.

This is currently being discussed in Washington under the headline of the Highway Bill. Not so long ago the highway infrastructure of the United States was admired across the world. Today, however, the U.S. highways are in terrible condition, as I have personally experienced while driving on them. This is despite the fact that the U.S. is the wealthiest nation in the world. It is unfortunate for a nation that is so dependent on transportation for the healthy functioning of its economy and global competitiveness. According to the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the U.S. will have to invest $ 549 billion to fix and improve our highways.

The question is not whether we need this or how and when to do it! The question is how to pay for it?

Regardless of the method used to create funds for highway improvement, be it through increased taxes or toll charges, action on this front is needed now, before the competiveness of this nation is diminished.

Let’s keep America rolling smoothly!