![Volvo Engine Architecture [VEA] - Power of Six with Fuel Economy of Four](https://i0.wp.com/www.greenoptimistic.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/FMX_Logo.jpg?resize=300%2C212&ssl=1 "Volvo Engine Architecture [VEA] - Power of Six with Fuel Economy of Four"){kind=logo}
As concerns over vehicle emissions continue to rise and regulations become more strict, increasing fuel economy is at the forefront of addressing them. Some automakers have turned to vehicle electrification, but there is still plenty of innovation in the internal combustion engine. Of course, to develop anything new requires a significant investment, sometimes slowing down innovation.
Volvo’s engine plant in Skövde, Sweden, has just received over $300 million in upgrades to produce a new line of engines under the Volvo Engine Architecture [VEA] moniker. According to Oscar Falk, Volvo’s vice president of global engine production, “one of the biggest challenges was the remodeling of the line for cylinder block processing. Thirty machining cells were replaced or converted.”
Volvo is looking to make good on the investment, planning on producing some 20,000 VEA engines by the end of the year and increasing production to about 100,000 by next year. The new four-cylinder VEA engines are said to offer the power and performance of bigger six-cylinder models with fuel economy better than current four-cylinder models. The new VEA engines will go into the 2014 model year S60, S80, V60, V70, XC60, and XC70 being produced this fall.
