Going once, going twice – sold!

The first brand new Volvo FH to roll off the production line has been sold for a record price on eBay.

A 10-day charity auction that started on September 19 saw 35 bidders from around Europe place more than 95 bids for the sought-after truck. The winning bid of 150 000 (more than R1,6 million) far exceeded the market price.

All proceeds will go to Star for Life, a non-profit organisation founded in 2005 that has a unique education programme aimed at halting the spread of HIV/Aids among young people in southern Africa.

Volvo Trucks finances the programme in 16 schools around Durban and Johannesburg.

The winning bid was placed by Jean-Pierre Ducournau, founder of Ducournau Transports in France, which has a fleet of more than 300 Volvo trucks. He is now the proud owner of the first series-built FH special-edition truck.

“I am so pleased to have won this auction and to be able to help these children,” says Ducournau, who has been supporting charity auctions for decades. In the mid-1970s, he became the first in the south of France to own a Volvo F12 truck.

“We are incredibly proud that so many people were willing to pay so much money for the first new Volvo FH,” says Claes Nilsson, president of Volvo Trucks. “This says a lot, not only about the truck’s worth as a once-off collectors’ item, but also about its appeal as a whole.”

Ducournau has been invited to hand over the donation to the school chosen as the recipient of the funds at a ceremony to be held in South Africa next year.