ROCKLEIGH, NJ - Volvo Cars' "DRIVe Around the World" challenge became the most installed branded application on Facebook in 2009. The winning team - Volvo's fan page - will have 15,000 EURO placed in their name for a clean energy project within myclimate.

"To be number 17 on the list of most installed facebook applications and number one among branded is great and more than we ever expected," says Lukas Dohle, Live Communication and Social Media at Volvo Car Corporation in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The winning team, who made the most efficient journey, is the Volvo Fans team. Over 140 fans gathered on the Facebook Fanpage www.facebook.com/volvo discussion board by posting their names and locations in order to connect to each other. They were able to "drive" their C30 DRIVe all the way from Sweden to Egypt, while meeting the game rules and objectives.

Volvo's DRIVe Around The World game challenged users to virtually drive a Volvo C30 DRIVe to a Facebook friend who lives as close to 1,333 kilometers away as possible; that's how far a C30 DRIVe can reach one just one tank of fuel. The car was then passed on from friend to friend trying to complete a virtual journey around the world within 80 days.

The contest began on November 16 and ended February 5. The game is the most installed branded application in 2009 having attracted a truly global audience spanning from Europe to North America, Asia and Africa.

"DRIVe Around The World was based on the philosophy that any given person is connected to the rest of the world's population by only six degrees of separation. Our idea was to create a compelling experiment that encouraged people to get in touch with one another in a new and unique way," says Lukas Dohle.

The game was promoted with an animated trailer, which received 569,000 views worldwide in 169 countries.

The Volvo fan page (www.facebook.com/volvo) will be rewarded by a donation from Volvo Cars of 15.000 EURO in the Volvo Fans' team name to a Gold Standard certified wind farm project in Izmir, Turkey. Information about the wind farm project can be found on www.myclimate.org/en/carbon-offset-projects/international-projects/detail/mycproject/8/95.html.

They will use the funds to produce renewable and clean energy. The donation is more than enough to offset the amount of carbon an average person would create in a lifetime.

Background:

63,000 teams from all over the world participated in the race. Although no team managed to circumnavigate the world within the 80 days challenge, there were teams travelling all the way from Cape Town, South Africa to Samara, Russia trying to beat their competitors in Asia, who travelled from Sofia, Bulgaria to the border of Mongolia. Others tried their luck on the East Coast of Africa travelling to Singapore or crossing the Atlantic to reach their friends in the US.

In a joint effort all players who joined DRIVe Around the World also offset an additional 6300 KG of carbon just by joining the game. This amount will be added to the original donation by Volvo Cars.