Is Volvo’s move really so controversial? Limiting speeds is hardly new after all. A generation has grown up believing their decently-powerful BMW, Mercedes or Audi could only ever do a max of 155mph. That speed has been virtually enshrined for decades, following the German big three’s “gentleman’s agreement” to limit top speeds in the late 1980s.
Motorcycles – we are talking to you, Suzuki Hayabusa – got so fast 20 years ago that manufacturers agreed a voluntary speed limit (it was 300 clicks, or 186mph, though…).
With a few exceptions, most cars on sale today are restricted to one speed or another – reasons might include tyre compatibility, insurance requirements, corporate CO2 averages or, as in Volvo’s case, its view that speeding kills.
Limiting top whack is definitely part of the zeitgeist, arguably more so than a 250mph McLaren Speedtail or a 300mph Bugatti Chiron. When the Chiron became the first production car to hit 300mph last year hardly anyone noticed.
Over the decades, top speed has always sold cars, though maybe not Volvos; in that respect the company has less to lose than others. And 112mph is still 42mph over the motorway limit in this country after all.
The latest battery electric cars too are, quietly, getting us used to new lower top speeds, not because they do not have the power to go faster but because doing so runs their batteries down at an exponentially greater rate. A big range sells electric cars, not a big top speed.
Again, 112mph (Mercedes and others) is the new normal – it is already a common restricted speed in Japan – while some, like Jaguar and Audi, agree on 124mph (200km/h) for their electric machines. Others are restricted to much lower terminal velocities; the new Mini Electric has a Cooper S-like 0-62 time of 6.8 seconds but is all through at a Mini diesel-like 93mph.