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By
ALISTAIR KENNEDY in
DARMSTADT
6 October 2008
Had an
interesting meeting recently with a man who drives an orange
Volvo. Well, it’s actually a white Volvo C30 peppered on the
outside with various shaped orange decals, but inside everything
that can be orange is orange: panels, pillars, seats, seat belts,
carpets and floor mats, gear lever, steering wheel, parking brake,
and much more.
The
owner of this amazing looking car is Holger Hedtke and he’s the
managing director of German aftermarket accessory manufacturing
company, Heico Sportiv, that produces a range of more than 350
accessories specifically designed for Volvo cars.
Although
fully independent from Volvo, the two companies have close links
going back over 30 years, Holger Hedtke’s father originally
working for Volvo, then later purchasing a Volvo dealership with
his sons. In 1995 they formed a joint venture company with Heico
Motorsport, and two years later bought out that company to form
Heico Sportiv.
Apart
from the various interior accessories Heico produces body kits
including revised front grilles, front spoilers, side skirts and
rear diffusers; as well as a range of alloy wheels sitting under
widened wheel arches.
More
importantly for the true driving enthusiast, Heico Sportiv offers
a range of performance enhancing items such as re-tuned engines
with power upgrades, revised exhaust systems, sports suspension
and improved brakes.
We
were able to take three fully-equipped Heico Volvos for a
200-kilometre road test from the company’s Darmstadt, Germany,
headquarters. The drive route took us on several stretches of
unrestricted speed autobahns, mixed with some delightful winding
country roads, the day being capped off with an hour on the famed
Hockenheim race track.
The
cars were a V70 family wagon, the smaller V50 wagon and that very
distinctive orange C30 coupe.
Not
surprisingly the star of the day was the C30. Already one of our
favourite cars with its combination of classical styling and
sporty performance the Heico version, as well as getting all the
abovementioned performance enhancements, also had the added safety
of all-wheel-drive to go with its turbocharged T5 engine. The
little coupe scampered around the winding roads and the high-speed
Hockenheim corners with verve and assurance.
Heico
Sportiv currently exports its products to 37 countries with
Australia set to become the 38th with the recent
signing of an agreement by Volvo Cars Australia to begin
importation of accessories in early 2009.
To
begin with only non-performance enhancing accessories will be
brought to Australia where they will be fitted at Volvo
dealerships. A number of advanced orders have already been taken
from Volvo owners keen to shake the old image that Volvos are
conservative.
Volvo
Cars Australia has indicated that, subject to there being
sufficient demand, the performance components will follow.
We’ll be very surprised if that demand doesn’t quickly
eventuate.
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Marque Publishing Company
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