During the most recently held Michelin Challenge Bibendum 2006 done in Paris, the Volvo Car Corporation took home most of the awards that were given away. In fact, Volvo entered this competition bringing with it its environmental car program flagships as entrants. The Volvo entrants included the new Multi-Fuel prototype car, two cars that held engines which were capable of running on renewable fuels, and a car that held a clean and fuel-efficient diesel engine.
The Volvo entrants took home sixteen gold medals in total. This number is quite the highest number of gold medals that any other entrant took home in the passenger car class. According to automobile experts, this simply proves that Volvo is indeed still leading in being the car manufacturer that has the capacity to produce vehicles that hold a high level of environmental and safety performance.
During the Michelin Challenge Bibendum, all entrants and participants, which included Volvo, had to complete in seven various areas. Acceleration, braking, emissions, slalom, noise, fuel efficiency, as well as carbon dioxide emissions were these areas where Volvo competed in.
Despite the entrants being Volvo prototypes, it did not become a hindrance for the company to take home such quite a high number of gold medals. In fact, Hans Folkesson who is the previous senior vice president of research and development at Volvo, states,