Volvo made more than 1.000.000 Volvo 340s and 360s. And many of them went new to England where they were in the top ten in sales.
Here the cars fell somewhat between the shore and the ship. They were no longer DAFs and no more Volvo's. What made the difference in England?
That was the name. Volvo. The British believed 100% that everything that Volvo insisted on was extremely robust and Scandinavian. They didn't know any better. They live on an island. And their years of exposure to indestructible Amazons and 140-142s had given them that firm conviction. And the Volvo station cars had an incredible popularity. A Volvo driver at that time had a certain undisturbed national superiority in England. To the annoyance of many fellow road users, Volvorijders showed this also convincingly by their quietly sovereign driving style.
Volvo saw growth towards the bottom of the market. DAF became Volvo. And as Volvo, they made an impression in England by name alone. And a whole new - less capable - clientele was tapped into it. The engine came from Renault, the build quality was certainly not Swedish. But the success was no less.
The limited power and the certainly not impressive handling did not detract from the fun.
The 1979 manual version turned the cars into a more real Volvo. The five-door version and the 2-liter version meant that the enthusiastic lower middle class British almost lost control of their stiff upperlip. The saloon from 1983 was also such a hit.
Built from 1976-1991
Engine: four-cylinder, 1397, 1721 cc and an 2 liter
Top speed from approx. 150 km / h
Number produced: 1.086.405
When I worked at VolvoCar/Nedcar in the nineties, 80000 of the 120000 units were sold in England. There they were very pleased with the upholstery quality – the door panels and seats were made in-house and were much better than any car in this segment.