Sweden’s Market Court has ruled against Volvo’s use of the slogan “safest in the world” in a lawsuit filed by Toyota. The judges noted that this slogan is not backed up in practice: Volvo failed to provide evidence of their assertion. For example, in February this year on the basis of tests done by the European New Car Assessment Program (Euro NCAP), the Volkswagen Golf was recognized as the safest European car of 2009. Second place was occupied by the hybrids Honda Insight and Toyota Prius. In the Euro NCAP 2009 tests, the Volvo XC60 only took fifth place.
For failure to comply with the court ruling, Volvo faces a fine of $1 million kronor ($140,000). In addition, Volvo has to pay Toyota court costs of 1 million kronor.
Interestingly, the adverts saying the car is "the safest in the world" ran only in Sweden. For example, in Russia the XC60 compact crossover SUV is advertised as the safest Volvo in history.
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