TORONTO — Volvo Construction Equipment Rents signed a franchise agreement for a new Volvo equipment rental center in Brampton, Ontario, the first Volvo Rents franchise in Canada.

Champion Rents, located in the Toronto area, has entered into a Volvo CE Rents franchise agreement to own and operate Volvo CE Rents centers in the Toronto metropolitan area.

In the United States, Volvo Rents signed a franchise agreement for a new Volvo equipment rental center in San Bernardino, Calif. Cole Equipment will open in the Riverside County/San Bernardino market. The area is the 10th largest metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. and construction spending for 2004 is expected to exceed $9 billion. Growth over the next four years is expected to reach the $10 billion level, creating an expanding demand for equipment rentals by contractors in the area.

The company also announced the opening of a new independently owned Volvo CE Rents equipment rental center in Fallston, Md., near Baltimore. EquipRent Inc. opened the first of four planned Volvo CE Rents centers in Baltimore and Central Maryland.

Alex Parris, owner of Equipment Rental Services, LLC recently opened a Volvo Rents franchise in Burkettstown, Pa.

Asheville, N.C.-based Volvo Rents is No. 19 on the RER 100.