The Volvo XC70 has been voted Car of the Year in Russia - again. For the second time in three years, Volvo Car's image-booster has taken first prize in the "Estate Car with Off-Road Capability" category.

The Car of the Year award in the world's largest country is a true people's competition. A total of 104,722 people voted in 19 different categories this year, the eighth time the competition has been held.

In the crossover category, the Volvo XC70 won ahead of the Audi All Road Quattro and Subaru Legacy Outback. Anouk Poelmann, sales and marketing director of Volvo Car Russia received the award.

This is the second time in three years that the XC70 has won in this category. In 2006 it was the previous generation of the Volvo XC70 that clinched first prize in the same class.

"It means that Russian customers prefer Volvo crossovers even if the competition on the car market is strong," says Anouk Poelmann.

Interestingly, another Volvo model played a major role during the gala evening. Volvo Car Russia held a lottery with a V50 going to one of the participants in the competition. The lucky winner was an 18 year old boy from Nizhniy Novgorod.
 
Volvo Car's sales in Russia  during 2007 was 21,077 cars. That was an increase of 95 per cent compared with the year before.