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Toyota wins case over Volvo 'safest car' claims

Published: 12 Mar 10 13:47 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/25492/20100312/

Sweden's Market Court (Marknadsdomstolen) has ruled that Volvo Car's marketing of its XC60 vehicle as the "safest in the world" is misleading and lacks supporting evidence.

"Volvo has not presented any proof at all which verifies or even indicates that the XC60 is the safest in the world. Volvo's claim is a general one and clearly lacks substantiation," the court said in its ruling on a case brought by Japanese firm Toyota.

Volvo has been warned that it will incur a fine of one million kronor ($140,000) if it does not desist from making the claims.

The court based its judgement of the firm's marketing on the message conveyed to the average consumer, which according to Swedish law has to be based on credible verifiable claims.

The case dates to a marketing campaign launched in the beginning of 2009. Some of the advertisements - in print, television and internet sources - forwarded various claims pertaining to the XC60's security or safety characteristics.

Some of the slogans used in the campaign included "...in other words - the safest in the world," and "the most fuel-efficient in its class - the safest in the world."

As a result of Volvo's claims, rival car company Toyota reported the matter to the Market Court. Volvo has been ordered to pay Toyota's court costs of 1.035 million kronor.

Peter Vinthagen Simpson
news@thelocal.se
+46 8 656 6513

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14:24 March 12, 2010 by Great Scott
And Toyota should be taken to court for makeing the "unsafest cars in the world".

And there is proof of that, 8.000.000 recalls.
14:31 March 12, 2010 by peropaco
How cheeky is Toyota. They should try to stay away from any media attention for time being.
15:31 March 12, 2010 by Luke35711
Oh, the symbolic irony of this! Maybe this was meant as diversionary tactics? I guess, irony like sense of humour does not travel well across civilisations ;)
16:08 March 12, 2010 by Joyous
I also think the Volvo XC60 is "the safest in the world" and my only proof for saying this is my personal experience with the XC60 as compared to other vehicles including Toyota. Maybe they will take me to court for saying so :)
16:16 March 12, 2010 by 2394040
All claims of this sort are usually bogus. You can buy off just about anyone to say anything. I'm supposed to own one of the worst cars in the world: a Ford. But after 12 years and over 260,000 miles with no significant problems, I can say it's one of the best.
17:57 March 12, 2010 by livinginsweden
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

the only way to see which is safest car is to drive the volvo xc60 headon against a toyota landcruise .... and see which driver survive. is that simple enough?

ha ha ha ha ha
22:12 March 12, 2010 by Eagle63
BS..; SAAB still makes the safest cars !
22:33 March 12, 2010 by hjoian
Its all BS. any car can be destroyed in an accident...depending what you hit,or what hits you. I have seen the result of a collision between a volvo and a rolls royce......the volvo was a complete wreck....
11:01 March 13, 2010 by farnoxo
The irony puts Toyota in a bit of a "sticky" (accelerator) situation. Maybe Toyota could not "recall" (8 million times) having any safety problems of their own?
12:34 March 13, 2010 by ionut
Problem solved.Volvo is now just another car.Damn what a great loss.
14:51 March 13, 2010 by ameribrit
I had a FIAT once that I believe was the safest car in the world. But only because I couldn't keep it running long enough to actually get it into traffic.
02:59 March 14, 2010 by wenddiver
I would guess the old square Lincoln Town cars of the 190s are probably the safest, based on huge steel bumpers, thick steel body panels, a body on frame construction, and that frame being a truck frame with reinforcing supports. I worked in a Lincoln Dealership as a young man and we used to have a hell of a time getting other cars out from under them when old people would literally run over other smaller cars. These things were built like tanks with truck wheels.

Toyotas are poor people pretending that nobody knows how much they paid for their econo-boxes, pure garbage. Volvos are great cars.
15:32 March 14, 2010 by Iraniboy
That is ridiculous! Proving such non-quantitative things is of course hard and sometimes impossible. If they apply the same rule for other companies that would be disaster. Imagine Tele2 should prove they are sheep, etc!!!
09:09 March 15, 2010 by karex
In some countries you cannot publicly claim that which you cannot prove. It is considered cheating the consumer and akin to embezzlement.
10:12 March 16, 2010 by magudbe
the kettle calling the pot "black"
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