24hcar: Volvo

Showing posts with label Volvo. Show all posts

Volvo S60 convertible image leaked

Posted by Mr Dung Tuesday, June 15, 2010

A supposedly leaked picture of a Volvo S60 Coupe-Convertible based on the new sedan model, said to have been shot during some sort of internal presentation, has been making the internet rounds this morning.
However, in this day and age of photoshop wizardry, you can't trust everything you see on the website. And judging from the picture of the standard S60 saloon that you can check out after the jump, we have serious doubts about its authenticity.
Bypassing the clearly photoshoped 'shades' under the front bumper, the most telling elements about the legitimacy of the S60 Coupe-Convertible picture are the highlights, shadows and mirror images of the background on the car's profile that are identical and in the same exact position as those found on the 4-door sedan model.
And if you know a thing or 2 about photography, if not impossible, this is extremely difficult to occur in real life with 2 different vehicles.
It is possible though that the Swedes created / used the photoshoped image for internal purposes e.g. to tease the model during a dealer or an associates presentation.[WCF]

0 comments

VIDEO:Volvo Unleashes New C30 STCC Racer

Posted by Mr Dung Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Volvo and its motorsports partner Polestar will begin this year's Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) season on 24 April at Jyllandsringen in Denmark with an updated version of their ethanol-powered C30 racer based on the facelifted production model.

This is the fastest Volvo I've ever driven," says Volvo Polestar driver Robert Dahlgren.Volvo recently extended its agreement with Polestar right through to the end of the 2012 season.The new race car gets a revised front end which is longer, lower and wider, with the Swedish automaker claiming that the new design delivers a higher ground pressure at the front, and an improved airflow right around the vehicle.We've worked very hard to take full advantage of the new C30 facelift, spending countless hours in the wind tunnel at Volvo Cars in the process," says Jan Andersson, Technical Director of the Volvo Polestar team.

0 comments

Volvo Preparing All-New S60 for Belgian Touring Car Series

Posted by Mr Dung Friday, April 2, 2010

[Volvo]

We know what you're thinking, "Volvo? Racing? Must be April Fools." Quite the contrary, the company will enter the S60 in the Belgian Touring Car Series.

Developed in record time, the S60 features a racing body kit (dubbed Silhouette S1), a tubular frame chassis, a revised suspension (with independent 3-way adjustable shock absorbers), and high performance brakes.

Power is provided by a mid-mounted 3.5-liter V6 engine with 410 hp (306 kW / 416 PS) and 412 Nm (304 lb-ft) of torque. It motivates the rear wheels through a six-speed sequential transmission.

According to Bart Crols, Managing Director of Volvo Cars Belgium, "The all-new Volvo S60 sports sedan is Volvo's most exciting driving experience so far and there is no better way to show this than by bringing it to the race track. Volvo and the all-new S60 have a special place in the people's hearts here as several Volvo models, including the new S60, are built in Belgium at the Volvo Cars Ghent plant."

1 comments

Ford agrees to sell Volvo to Geely for $1.8B

Posted by Mr Dung Monday, March 29, 2010

[Detnews]

Chinese car producer Geely has agreed to purchase Swedish automaker Volvo from Ford for $1.8 billion. The sum is a far cry from the $6.45 billion Ford spent to acquire Volvo in 1999.

The deal was signed on Sunday at the Gothenburg, Sweden, offices of Volvo. Because the two firms need regulatory approval in several countries, the agreement is not expected to be finalized until October.

Geely's binding deal requires them to pay $1.6 billion in cash up front, with the remaining $200 million to be paid in the future. It gives Ford the opportunity to focus on its core brand, as well as Lincoln and Mercury.

"For Ford, the completion of the sale of Volvo Cars will conclude the divestiture of our global premium brand portfolio, allowing us to concentrate further on integrating the Ford core brand globally as we continue to execute our One Ford plan," said Ford CFO Lewis Booth.

This is Ford's fourth brand sale in recent times. The company sold Aston Martin in 2007, and both Land Rover and Jaguar in 2008.

Geely will take over a brand that lost $934 million in 2009, and $1.7 billion a year earlier. The company believes they will be able to turn Volvo around by giving the luxury brand an immediate foothold in the Chinese market.

The new owners say they do not plan to move Volvo out of Sweden any time soon. Volvo employs 14,000 people in Sweden, and another 6,000 elsewhere.

“I see Volvo as a tiger. It belongs to the forest and shouldn’t be contained in the zoo,” said Geely chair Li Shufu in Mandarin. Referring to Volvo's main factories, Li said, “The heart of the tiger is in Sweden and Belgium. ... Its paws should extend all across the world.”

Volvo production is expected to hit 390,000 units in 2010, up from 330,000 in 2009.

0 comments

New Volvo S80 and V70 DRIVe with 1.6-liter Diesel Return 4.5lt/100km - 52.3 mpg US with 119g/km CO2

Posted by Mr Dung Monday, February 1, 2010

[Autonew]

Thanks to a few minor tweaks, Volvo has managed to further reduce CO2 emissions and improve fuel efficiency on its S80 and V70 DRIVe models from the 2009MYs 129 g/km and 4.9 lt/100 km to 119 g/km and 4.5 lt/100 km on the 2010MYs respectively.
Both cars continue to use a 1.6-liter diesel with 109HP and 240Nm of peak torque that's hooked up to a five-speed manual gearbox.
However, Volvo's engineers employed a smart battery recharging system that 'forces' the alternator to charge the battery only when the engine is operating at low load , while they also redesigned the tensioner and alternator pulleys.
"Smart battery recharging is the most important measure," says Ulf Nordström, Technical Project manager at Volvo Cars.
"It is primarily thanks to this that we have dipped below the 120-gram level that gives car owners tax breaks and other benefits in a number of European countries. What is more, one might say that we offer the normal driver one free tank of fuel a year," Nordström added.
The Swedish automaker said that the reduction in fuel consumption from a combined 4.9 lt/100 km to 4.5 l/100 km means that someone driving 15,000 km a year will save 60 liters of diesel or as Nordström put it, one fuel tank.
Volvo did not disclose any performance figures for the updated 2010MY S80 and V70 DRIVe, but just to get an idea, the 2009MY S80 DRIVe accelerates from standstill to 100km/h in a claimed 12.4 seconds and reaches a top speed of 118mph or 189 km/h.
We say that, while any efforts to improve CO2 emissions and fuel consumption are more than welcome, fitting a puny 1.6-liter diesel engine in cars of the size and weight of the S80 and V70, isn't exactly pioneering anything new...

0 comments

Volvo Launches New 203HP 2.0-Liter Turbo Gasoline Engine for S80, V70 and XC60

Posted by Mr Dung Thursday, January 28, 2010

FoMoCo's soon-to-be-sold to China's Geely Motors Volvo brand is expanding its range of gasoline engines with the presentation of the all-new 2.0-liter GTDi (Gasoline Turbocharged Direct Injection) that will initially find its way under the hood of the S80 sedan, V70 estate and XC60 compact SUV models.
Even though Volvo did not mention anything about Ford, we suspect that the new four-cylinder unit that combines turbocharging technology and direct injection with twin variable camshafts, is either the same engine or heavily based on FoMoCo's new 2.0-liter EcoBoost engine that will be used on several cars including the European Mondeo and the Australian Falcon.

Volvo said that the new 2.0 GTDi petrol engine produces an output of 203 horsepower and 300 Nm or 221.3 lb-ft of peak torque that is sustained from 1750 rpm all the way up to 4,000 rpm.
The engine will be offered in combination with Volvo's automatic six-speed Powershift transmission or a six-speed manual gearbox
"We've succeeded in making a four-cylinder engine that is as powerful as a 2.5-litre five-cylinder unit, and it's also much more energy-efficient," said Magnus Jonsson, head of Product Development at Volvo Cars.
"One of the most important reasons behind the results is our new, patented turbo system that has been tailor-made for smaller energy-efficient engines," Jonsson added.
With this new engine and the six-speed manual gearbox, the S80 sedan accelerates from zero to 100km/h (62mph) in 7.9 seconds while returning a combined fuel consumption of 7.9 lt /100km which is equal to 29.8mpg US and 35.8mpg UK.
Volvo said that the new 2.0 GTDi engine is being initially launched on markets that offer tax incentives for engines below two liters in displacement including South-East Asia, the Netherlands, China and Japan, adding that more countries/regions will follow later in the year.

0 comments

Alleged Future Volvo Electric Vehicle Sketch Surfaces

Posted by Mr Dung Monday, January 25, 2010

[WCF]

A futuristic-looking sketch depicting what Volvo described as "a future Volvo electric car?" surfaced during a presentation at an event by EnerDel, lithium-ion battery suppliers for the electric Volvo C30. The sketch was signed by one Stefan Jansson and is quite bold, with a menacing front end and oversized wheels.

Dan Johnston, a spokesman for Volvo played down suggestions of anything resembling the final electric car design, saying the sketch is just that, a sketch.

"It's just one of the designer guys in Sweden playing around," Johnston told Insideline. "We won't have an electric vehicle that looks like an electric vehicle. It won't be like a Prius. You'll see the continuation of [our] design language on the C30."

However, seeing as though the Swedes were actually pressured by an excited public into building the C30 from that radical Volvo Safety Concept Car of 2000, there is no saying this won't happen again with this sketch.

0 comments

Swedish Cops in Volvo XC70 Ram and Overthrow Audi A6

Posted by Mr Dung Sunday, January 10, 2010

These shocking photographs that show a Volvo XC70 police car in Sweden first ramming into the side of an Audi A6 and then -literally- climbing over the German sedan have made the rounds on numerous sites and forums on the internet. We don't have the background story on this incident, so if you happen to know something about it, leave us a comment below. Hit the jump for the full photo set.

[Via:Motive]

0 comments

2011 Volvo S60: New Video Gives us a Complete View of Swedish Sedan

Posted by Mr Dung Thursday, December 31, 2009

Following the release of the first teaser photos of the all-new 2011 S60 back in November, Volvo has now published a new video that gives us with a full view of its small executive sedan that will make its world premiere at the Geneva Salon in March 2010. Closely based on the concept model that appeared at the 2009 Detroit Show, the new S60 is squarely aimed at the Audi A4, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and BMW 3-Series.

Volvo, which will soon pass on to the hands of China's Geely Motors, has released very little information on the car but the company did say that the new S60 will be more driver orientated that its predecessor.

While it is not clear yet how the sale will affect the S60's engine range, it is believed that Ford's new EcoBoost 1.6-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine featuring turbocharging, direct injection and outputs ranging from 150 to 180 horsepower will be amongst the offerings.

Via Autoblog

0 comments

Heico Sportiv Tunes the eco-friendly 2010 Volvo C30 1.6D DRIVe

Posted by Mr Dung Monday, November 23, 2009

How much sense does it make to offer a performance package for an eco-friendly diesel car model that has been specifically designed to deliver maximum fuel efficiency and low CO2 emissions? Not much if you ask us but anyways... This here is Heico Sportiv's tuning package for the recently unveiled 2010 Volvo C30 1.6D DRIVe.

In factory form, the new Volvo C30 1.6D DRIVe is powered by a 1.6-liter diesel with 109HP and 240Nm of torque. Combined with a wide range of fuel saving technologies such as start/stop system with brake-energy recovery and aerodynamically optimized components, this C30 returns an average fuel economy of 3.9 liters/100 km or 60.3mpg US.

Heico Sportiv's package includes new software for the diesel unit's ECU that increases output to 125HP and 280Nm. As a result, the tuned C30 1.6D DRIVe sprints from standstill to 100 km/h in 9.2 seconds, beating the series-production model by 2.1 seconds while achieving a top speed of 200 km/h (124mph), 10 km/h more than the series version. The tuner did not release any fuel economy figures for the model.

Also available is a sport suspension that lowers the vehicle's ride height by about 30mm.

The Volvo tuning specialist gives the C30's exterior a new look with a front spoiler that replaces the original lower base section of the bumper and a rear apron with an integrated diffuser housing quad tailpipes. Five or ten-spoke alloy wheels in sizes 18- and 19-inch that are available in various colors complete the looks.

The interior can also be decked out with numerous applications in aluminum or leather, such as the door pin set, shift stick grip, parking brake handle, pedal set and foot rest.

Via Carscoop

0 comments

Minor Updates for 2010 Volvo XC90

Posted by Mr Dung Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Volvo has announced plans to make some minor changes to XC90 for 2010.

While it's hard to be certain (our Swedish is a little rusty), it appears the model will only be offered in a seven-seat configuration. This makes sense because it helps to differentiate the XC90 from the five-seat XC60.

Depending on which country you are in, the XC90 will be offered in five different trim levels. 'Kinetic' models receive bright exterior accents (aluminum-look roof rails and additional chrome detailing), 18-inch alloy wheels, and a navigation system. Other variants are outfitted with exclusive leather upholstery and various exterior design tweaks.

As before, engine options include a 175 kW (238 hp) 3.2-liter V6, a 232 kW (315 hp) 4.4-liter V8, and a five-cylinder turbo-diesel with 136 kW (185 hp).

0 comments

Volvo Announces UK Pricing for 2010 C30 and C70 Facelift Models

Posted by Mr Dung Monday, October 5, 2009

Volvo has released pricing for the UK market 2010 model year C30 sport hatchback and C70 hardtop convertible that were both unveiled for the first time at last month's Frankfurt Motor Show. The facelifted C30 is available in four trim levels S, SE, SE Lux and R-DESIGN and a choice of six engines with prices starting from £14,495 OTR for the entry-level 100HP 1.6 S petrol model rising to £21,360 OTR for the 180HP D5 turbo-diesel in SE Lux guise.

All C30s come equipped with standard features such as ECC (Electronic Climate Control), Information Centre, power windows, a leather steering wheel and gear knob, floor mats, CD player and an Aux input and alloy wheels as well as DSTC (Dynamic Stability and Traction Control.

The revised 2010 C70 cabriolet is offered in three trim levels, S, SE and SE Lux, and a choice of four engines, including two diesels, the 136HP 2.0D and 180HP D5 and two petrol derivatives, the 170HP 2.4i and the 230HP T5. The C70 range kicks off at £25,995 for the base 2.0D S.

Standard features include ECC (Electronic Climate Control), alloy wheels, front fog lights, power windows, information centre, cruise control, floor mats and a Performance Sound Audio System.

Volvo said that both models will arrive in UK showrooms this December, with first customer deliveries expected to take place in January 2010.

Sourec Listcwrworld

0 comments

Frankfurt Show Galleries: Facelifted Volvo C70 Convertible and C30 Sport Hatch

Posted by Mr Dung Thursday, September 17, 2009

In anticipation of the production version of the S60 Concept, Volvo used the Frankfurt Motor Show to introduce its refreshed C70 hardtop convertible and C30 sport hatchback. The most significant changes for the two models come up front as both receive a new fascia that takes its inspiration from the S60 Concept along with numerous other detailed but less important spec changes. Hit the jump for the live shots or click here to read more about the C70 Cabrio and here for the C30 hatch.

2010 Volvo C70

2010 Volvo C30

0 comments

Volvo Spruces Up C30 Facelift with R-Design Sport Package, Includes Cosmetic and Chassis Upgrades

Posted by Mr Dung Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The introduction of the facelifted Volvo C30 brings a new R-Design sport package with a spicy bodykit and chassis upgrades for the premium hatchback model. Visually, the R-Design adds an all-new color-matching bodykit front, rear and roof spoilers, lower door trim moulding and side-skirts along with visible chrome plated tailpipes, 17-inch five spoke alloys plus a silk metal finish for the front grille and door mirror housings.

The cabin finish includes a two-tone or alternatively all-black, leather interior, R-Design centre stack and panel inserts, a sport leather steering wheel, gear lever knob trimmed in leather and aluminum and blue speedometer and rev counter gauges.

However, the biggest changes in the new C30 R-Design, which makes its world debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show, are hidden beneath the skin. In particular, the steering is more precise thanks to the installation of stiffer bushings while the lower steering ratio promises to offer faster response to steering wheel input.

Volvo's engineers also tampered around with the suspension that now features much stiffer springs, dampers and roll stabilizers to improve handling. Furthermore, the ride height has been lowered by 10 mm.

"A customer who test-drives the new C30 R-Design will immediately feel the difference," claims Stefan Sällqvist, manager Vehicle Dynamics at Volvo Cars. "Even before the car has covered fifty meters, the driver will be aware of the crisp steering and the distinct chassis response."

Detailed pricing on the R-Design sport package will be announced at a later date.

0 comments

2010 Volvo C30 Facelift gets S60 Concept-like Fascia and New Sport Chassis Option

Posted by Mr Dung Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Life at Volvo is about to get busier. Joining the updated C70 hardtop-convertible at this month's Frankfurt Motor Show in Germany is the gently facelifted C30 hatch. As with the C70, the front-end of the C30 has been restyled taking styling cues from the S60 Concept. This translates to larger (maybe a tad too large in our opinion) and 'swoopier' headlights, a more distinct grille treatment with a new honeycomb pattern unique to the C30 as well as redesigned wings and bonnet.

"The front of the Volvo C30 has become more dramatic and expressive," said Fedde Talsma, Exterior Chief Designer at Volvo Cars. "The angled lines of the front bumper together with the new headlamps, which are drawn offset and up, reinforce the impression of speed and sportiness.".

At the back the C30 gets a new rear bumper treatment with deeper lines and wavier contours while the black plastic panels have been replaced with more body colour lower down.

Other new exterior features for the 2010 model year include the introduction of a vibrant Orange Flame Metallic colour, visible exhaust tailpipes in the T5 and D5 models, two new alloy wheel options one of which is white and the choice of five different colors on the lower trim from the Contrast Color Collection models.

Furthermore, Volvo has developed a new styling kit for the 2010 C30 that includes foglamp decor, a front skidplate, side scuff plates and a rear skidplate, all finished in an aluminum look.

Inside, changes are limited to the introduction of a new trim option for the center console called "Oyster Burst Déco" which is said to be inspired by the surface texture of the classic Swedish Hagström.

Volvo is also introducing a new optional sport chassis for the C30 with stiffer springs, dampers and roll stabilizers as well as a lower steering ratio that gives 10 per cent faster response to steering wheel input The new sport chassis is available in all C30 versions except for 1.6D DRIVe.

There are no changes in the engine line-up with the C30 being offered (depending on the market) with the same gasoline and diesel drivelines with power ranging from the 100HP 1.6-liter petrol to the 230HP turbocharged 2.5-liter petrol unit.