Electrolux/volta u194 Aus Del vacuum

[auslux708090d2d]

Hi all,

Apologies for my tardiness, been unwell for weeks and still are, but this is a little medicine of distraction that arrived yesterday and boy is it something special to me,

British built and very light compared to local built Electrolux of the era, I just slightly remember this vacuum in a light lemon yellow, never seen it in blue before and definitely not the other colour options English folk had, I pray to find the other colours now lol,

This individual vacuum has been lightly used and is very quiet ( I still will dismantle for service soon)

It came with it’s original packaging/brochure/ 1 spare paper bag and the original tools ( I think original from memory of yellow version)

I am in discussions with a IT guy who will be copying the original brochure for those who would like a copy, he will use the exact same thickness of paper etc , it’s a good read too,

Interesting one of the poles is longer than the other ( not pictured neither the hose but have both)

I have to say this vacuum has style oozing (my opinion)

Very happy to find this cleaner and probably cleaner of the year for my new additions to the collection,

Thank you for viewing etc!!

 

[paul]

Sorry to hear about your unwellness; I hope & pray for your full recovery soon.

Your medicinal lightly-used Volta U194 that you just obtained is quite something! It is appears to be quite similar to the Windsor Blue & Light Grey Electrolux UK Z94, produced from 1971 to 1974 .

How awesome that it came with the original hose, wands, tools, bag(?), carton and manual/guarantee for it. It's thoughtful of you to have the manual reproduced for those who desire copies fro themselves.

I agree with your fondness for the design; it is one of my favorites, too. I think it originated by the pencil of Sixten Sason, a Swedish industrial designer, for the Electrolux model ZE70 circa 1957.

Hopefully you will be able to obtain other models of the design in various colors; although it will take time and patience.

Thank you for the post, and again blessings on your return to wellness soon.

 

[cheesewonton]

What a beautiful example of good industrial design. And the condition is simply amazing. So old yet so well cared for.

 

[auslux708090d2d]

Sorry to hear about your unwellness; I hope & pray for your full recovery soon.

Your medicinal lightly-used Volta U194 that you just obtained is quite something! It is appears to be quite similar to the Windsor Blue & Light Grey Electrolux UK Z94, produced from 1971 to 1974 .

How awesome that it came with the original hose, wands, tools, bag(?), carton and manual/guarantee for it. It's thoughtful of you to have the manual reproduced for those who desire copies fro themselves.

I agree with your fondness for the design; it is one of my favorites, too. I think it originated by the pencil of Sixten Sason, a Swedish industrial designer, for the Electrolux model ZE70 circa 1957.

Hopefully you will be able to obtain other models of the design in various colors; although it will take time and patience.

Thank you for the post, and again blessings on your return to wellness soon.

Thank you for your thoughts prayers Paul,

A lot of people have been very unwell with pneumonia including myself, hospital has not seen so many people since early COVID, the helicopter keeps flying in taking the sickest away, really sad and I Pray that you don’t have the same experience with your approaching Winter ,

With regards to the Electrolux, and other vintage vacuum cleaners, our Australian society got swept up ( no pun intended) when Dyson hit the market, everyone had to have one, finally the tables seem to be turning and everyone wants a bagged vacuum again lol, Dyson reputation is not what it was, although people keep buying it so not sure, unfortunately Electrolux is no longer here even as aurus etc , we have started making Australian vacuum cleaners again (lol full circle ) but getting back to early Dyson, it seemed like overnight majority of people put their old vacuum out on the nature strip hoping someone would take it, which they did, scrap metal became the norm and sadly we lost a huge amount of vacuum cleaners to wire choppers and scrappies collecting the motors, then came new rules for second hand electrical appliances needing to be “tagged and tested “ overnight op shops stopped selling them second hand dealers etc , Godfrey’s was the last nail in the coffin unfortunately now gone to, I search high and when I find one it is usually immaculate condition hidden from daylight for decades,

luckily I have a interest in many electrical appliances and still find a bit, but more often importing from Germany Italy and England works out cheaper and easier for anything not vacuum related lol

Hope I didn’t rant to much,

Kind regards
Michael

 

[cheesewonton]

I'm sad to see Godfrey's go and I don't even live in Oz. They sold some interesting machines. They had a bagged power nozzle canister that was sold under the Hoover and another brand ( Sauber or maybe Wertheim ? ) that looked like it might be a decent machine for the price.

 

[auslux708090d2d]

I'm sad to see Godfrey's go and I don't even live in Oz. They sold some interesting machines. They had a bagged power nozzle canister that was sold under the Hoover and another brand ( Sauber or maybe Wertheim ? ) that looked like it might be a decent machine for the price.

My local Godfrey has survived with a name change and the salesman sold me paper bags for my Hoover as I call her ( Kylie Minogue celibraty ) 2025 , Sauber seems to have become bagless and I am still studying if Electrolux became Sauber or Aureus as you might be familiar with, they are the model similar to the last lux model, I keep thinking about buying one, just not sure why the top of them is so easily scratched, call me fussy lol

I am familiar with the Hoover, you are talking about, when Godfrey announced they would shut people went mad buying that Hoover , the name remains but the motor is very noisy , Hoover twin tub etc parts are very hard to find now..

 

[cheesewonton]

My local Godfrey has survived with a name change and the salesman sold me paper bags for my Hoover as I call her ( Kylie Minogue celibraty ) 2025 , Sauber seems to have become bagless and I am still studying if Electrolux became Sauber or Aureus as you might be familiar with, they are the model similar to the last lux model, I keep thinking about buying one, just not sure why the top of them is so easily scratched, call me fussy lol

I am familiar with the Hoover, you are talking about, when Godfrey announced they would shut people went mad buying that Hoover , the name remains but the motor is very noisy , Hoover twin tub etc parts are very hard to find now..

That Sauber Intelligence was sold around the world with different names but they were all made by a Slovenian company named Kolektor. They have an interesting history you can read on line but how they came to make a vacuum cleaner is unclear. It is so far away from their bread and butter industries !

You have to understand a bit about the history of Lux International to understand why that vacuum was sold by Sauber in Australia and New Zealand and not by Lux. When Lux International's big Swedish parent, Electrolux AB decided to get out of direct sales they split Lux International and sold the pieces to different owners. This happened around 1998. The Asia Pacific piece was sold to Vorwerk, the famous old German vacuum maker. The European side went to some Swiss investors. Both sides kept selling Swedish Electrolux AB made vacuums but in the early 2000s Vorwerk decided to sell their own vacuums with Lux branding and dropped the Swedish models entirely, though they still support them to a degree with parts. On the European side the Swiss investors lost their backsides and sold their interest to the big Indian vacuum maker Eureka Forbes. It was at this point that Lux International stopped selling the big high quality Swedish Electrolux machines and contracted with two German engineers to design the Intelligence, then contracted with Kolektor to manufacture them. That is what Lux International sells in the EU. Since Lux International was already selling Lux branded Vorwerk vacuums in Australia and New Zealand, Godfrey's was able to sell the Intelligence under their Sauber house brand. Funny thing if you own a Lux D820 or D795 you can get parts from Lux International in Australia or New Zealand. But nothing for the Intelligence. I have some Japanese market Lux models ( D730, D745, D795 and D820 ) and Lux in Japan has parts for them. I also have a Lux branded Vorwerk Tiger 260 I bought in Japan. This is why Lux in the Asia Pacific region never bothered to sell the Intelligence.
Lux International never operated in the US. We had our own branch of Electrolux that split off from the Swedish parent and was bought by an American company in 1969, a company that went through ownership changes and became Aerus LLC,Aerus wanted a high end vacuum to sell in the US and contracted with Kolektor to buy 120 volt versions of the AC-11 version of the Intelligence, but Aerus calls it the Guardian Platinum and Americanizes it with traditional old Electrolux USA style hoses, wands and power nozzle.
In India, Eureka Forbes home market, the Intelligence is sold as the Eureka Forbes Euroclean Xtreme.

 

[huskyvacs]

Gorgeous vacuum! I love the styling, very modern for the time!

 

[auslux708090d2d]

That Sauber Intelligence was sold around the world with different names but they were all made by a Slovenian company named Kolektor. They have an interesting history you can read on line but how they came to make a vacuum cleaner is unclear. It is so far away from their bread and butter industries !

You have to understand a bit about the history of Lux International to understand why that vacuum was sold by Sauber in Australia and New Zealand and not by Lux. When Lux International's big Swedish parent, Electrolux AB decided to get out of direct sales they split Lux International and sold the pieces to different owners. This happened around 1998. The Asia Pacific piece was sold to Vorwerk, the famous old German vacuum maker. The European side went to some Swiss investors. Both sides kept selling Swedish Electrolux AB made vacuums but in the early 2000s Vorwerk decided to sell their own vacuums with Lux branding and dropped the Swedish models entirely, though they still support them to a degree with parts. On the European side the Swiss investors lost their backsides and sold their interest to the big Indian vacuum maker Eureka Forbes. It was at this point that Lux International stopped selling the big high quality Swedish Electrolux machines and contracted with two German engineers to design the Intelligence, then contracted with Kolektor to manufacture them. That is what Lux International sells in the EU. Since Lux International was already selling Lux branded Vorwerk vacuums in Australia and New Zealand, Godfrey's was able to sell the Intelligence under their Sauber house brand. Funny thing if you own a Lux D820 or D795 you can get parts from Lux International in Australia or New Zealand. But nothing for the Intelligence. I have some Japanese market Lux models ( D730, D745, D795 and D820 ) and Lux in Japan has parts for them. I also have a Lux branded Vorwerk Tiger 260 I bought in Japan. This is why Lux in the Asia Pacific region never bothered to sell the Intelligence.
Lux International never operated in the US. We had our own branch of Electrolux that split off from the Swedish parent and was bought by an American company in 1969, a company that went through ownership changes and became Aerus LLC,Aerus wanted a high end vacuum to sell in the US and contracted with Kolektor to buy 120 volt versions of the AC-11 version of the Intelligence, but Aerus calls it the Guardian Platinum and Americanizes it with traditional old Electrolux USA style hoses, wands and power nozzle.
In India, Eureka Forbes home market, the Intelligence is sold as the Eureka Forbes Euroclean Xtreme.

Thank you for sharing the information regarding Lux, I definitely was unaware of the facts of what happened to the Swedish company,just rumours of what happened,I did see a lux vacuum for sale market place, interesting shape canister vacuum vorwerk which I believe is now battery powered stick type possibly plug in version still stick type in appearance regardless, I only recently learned that Electrolux name is being used in Australia for white goods they build here and as you mentioned probably a new company following the split up maybe just a badge engineering thing in Australia like previous Westinghouse email Australia vs Westinghouse US company

 

[cheesewonton]

Electrolux had a factory in Australia making vacuum cleaners. It wasn't badge engineering. A couple of Electrolux vacuums I revere were produced in Oz. Electrolux still sells vacuums in certain markets, just not Australia.

Electrolux USA was a wholly owned subsidiary of Electrolux AB of Sweden when founded in 1924. North American production began in 1930 and by 1939 the North American products were completely different from what was being made in Sweden. Later on Electrolux AB started to sell shares in Electrolux USA. Over time a company called Consolidated Grocers became the majority shareholder in Electrolux USA and in 1969 Consolidated bought the remaining shares of Electrolux USA and because the sole owner. Consolidated Grocers changed names over time eventually becoming Sarah Lee Foods. Their Electrolux USA subsidiary went bankrupt and in 1998 was sold to a private equity firm in Dallas Texas, They renamed it Electrolux LLC. They turned around and negotiated a deal with Electrolux AB of Sweden to sell the rights to the Electrolux name in North America back to them for a large sum of money. When the deal closed Electrolux LLC was renamed Aerus LLC and the vacuums were sold under the Aerus Lux brand name. Aerus LLC again changed names to ActivePure LLC to reflect the proprietary technology in their new bread and butter, air filtration.

Meanwhile Electrolux AB of Sweden,aka the Electrolux Group, bought Frigidaire from General Motors, then bought vacuum maker Eureka along with Westinghouse Appliances, Tappan and Gibson. They split Eureka's Sanitaire line of commercial vacuums off as a stand alone company with some shared production and over time you started to see some Swedish, German and Hungarian made Electrolux Group products showing up in the US with Eureka and Sanitaire branding. After Aerus sold the rights to the Electrolux name back to the original Swedish parent you started to see Electrolux branded vacuums and home appliances in the US and Canada. But in 2018 Electrolux sold Eureka to the Midea Group and in 2019 sold Sanitaire to Bissell. About the same time Electrolux stopped selling their own vacuums in the US and now there is no parts support whatsoever for Eureka or Electrolux vacuums sold here. Things are a little less grim for Sanitaire.

 

[auslux708090d2d]

Electrolux had a factory in Australia making vacuum cleaners. It wasn't badge engineering. A couple of Electrolux vacuums I revere were produced in Oz. Electrolux still sells vacuums in certain markets, just not Australia.

Electrolux USA was a wholly owned subsidiary of Electrolux AB of Sweden when founded in 1924. North American production began in 1930 and by 1939 the North American products were completely different from what was being made in Sweden. Later on Electrolux AB started to sell shares in Electrolux USA. Over time a company called Consolidated Grocers became the majority shareholder in Electrolux USA and in 1969 Consolidated bought the remaining shares of Electrolux USA and because the sole owner. Consolidated Grocers changed names over time eventually becoming Sarah Lee Foods. Their Electrolux USA subsidiary went bankrupt and in 1998 was sold to a private equity firm in Dallas Texas, They renamed it Electrolux LLC. They turned around and negotiated a deal with Electrolux AB of Sweden to sell the rights to the Electrolux name in North America back to them for a large sum of money. When the deal closed Electrolux LLC was renamed Aerus LLC and the vacuums were sold under the Aerus Lux brand name. Aerus LLC again changed names to ActivePure LLC to reflect the proprietary technology in their new bread and butter, air filtration.

Meanwhile Electrolux AB of Sweden,aka the Electrolux Group, bought Frigidaire from General Motors, then bought vacuum maker Eureka along with Westinghouse Appliances, Tappan and Gibson. They split Eureka's Sanitaire line of commercial vacuums off as a stand alone company with some shared production and over time you started to see some Swedish, German and Hungarian made Electrolux Group products showing up in the US with Eureka and Sanitaire branding. After Aerus sold the rights to the Electrolux name back to the original Swedish parent you started to see Electrolux branded vacuums and home appliances in the US and Canada. But in 2018 Electrolux sold Eureka to the Midea Group and in 2019 sold Sanitaire to Bissell. About the same time Electrolux stopped selling their own vacuums in the US and now there is no parts support whatsoever for Eureka or Electrolux vacuums sold here. Things are a little less grim for Sanitaire.

That is some serious business transactions all over one name, interesting that the local built Australian vacuum cleaners ( I think was Glen Waverley Victoria) were marked lux on the back above the wheels first appeared in 1970s , it’s interesting that Volta named Electrolux went to a plastic shell for the eighties model and then Electrolux reintroduced the 331 335 338 metal style body type again early 1990s blue and white this time and the final version was beige colour (probably a import NZ) matching colour as the 7 series which I think was still made in Australia

 

[cheesewonton]

That is some serious business transactions all over one name, interesting that the local built Australian vacuum cleaners ( I think was Glen Waverley Victoria) were marked lux on the back above the wheels first appeared in 1970s , it’s interesting that Volta named Electrolux went to a plastic shell for the eighties model and then Electrolux reintroduced the 331 335 338 metal style body type again early 1990s blue and white this time and the final version was beige colour (probably a import NZ) matching colour as the 7 series which I think was still made in Australia

Volta, Progress and AEG were or remain subsidiaries of the Electrolux Group. Progress is out of the vacuum business to concentrate on high end kitchen appliances. They shared many products and some of their vacuums came to the US in 120 volt form to be sold as Eureka or Sanitaire products. Two of the big expensive Swedish made Electrolux cylinder vacs the D720 and I want to say D735 or D739 ( ? ) came to the US with Viking Husqvarna branding and the D in the model number was replaced by a V. They were sold here with electric hoses and Eureka power nozzles. I have a D720 on deck for a spa day. I have some of its sisters I bought from Japan where they were sold in 100 volt form often with the Ze3 power nozzle.