Toy manufacturer LEGO’s Technic division has joined forces with Volvo to create a miniature of its L350F wheel loader. The remote-controlled model, consisting of more than 1,600 individual pieces, is the result of eight months of collaboration between the LEGO Technic team and Volvo Construction Equipment. The model can also be reconfigured into an A25F articulated hauler.
“We wanted to cooperate with a premium toy manufacturer, just as we are a premium player in the construction equipment sector,” said Mats Bredborg, global director of brand management, Volvo CE. “Volvo CE and the LEGO Group together create a perfect match, both culturally and in what we try to achieve in our products.”
LEGO Technic is a sub-brand of the LEGO Group. In contrast to the main LEGO lines, the bricks are supplemented with a wide variety of interconnecting plastic rods and parts, including gears, axles, pins and beams, to create complex movable elements. The models aim to replicate both the form and function of the real-life machines as closely as possible.
The LEGO Technic designers studied the Volvo machines in detail, visiting a construction site and operating the machines. The LEGO product will arrive in stores in August. The loader arm of the miniature can lift more than a kilogram. The bucket is the largest individual element ever created by the LEGO Technic team.
“We are extremely happy with the outcome, both from a functional and design point of view,” said Bredborg. “LEGO Technic has captured the profile, expression and power of the machines in an incredible way, as well as including lots of cool features like a heavy lift boom and high dump height.”
Bredborg added that the LEGO Group is devoted to safety as Volvo is and have thoroughly tested the machines, which are primarily designed for children between the ages of 11 and 16, but will likely appeal to adults as well.
