The official word has come down about Volvo’s new R-design lineup, a subject of much speculation recently. Using words like “refined” and “sports-inspired,” Volvo said the factory options package — which is largely cosmetic — will be available on the Volvo C30, S40 and V50 in Europe this fall.

The R-design package apparently is not intended as a replacement for Volvo’s high-performance R-series cars that the company is phasing out of production. Volvo explained that R-design “replaces and enhances” Volvo’s current sport trim levels. R-design is available on Sport and SE Sport models and on all engines in the C30, S40 and V50 lineup. The Sport with R-design range starts at the equivalent of about $33,250 for a Volvo C30 1.6 Sport.

R-design includes exterior upgrades such as a satin matte-finish grille, color-coordinated bumpers and lower side moldings, rear or roof spoiler, satin matte-finish side mirrors and five-spoke aluminum wheels in 17- or 18-inch sizes. In the cabin, upgrades include off-black seats with contrasting cream-colored leather, a leather-trimmed steering wheel with R-design logo, aluminum pedals, aluminum center stack and door inlays, and tufted dark sport floor mats.

There are no major suspension modifications or powertrain upgrades. It is uncertain whether R-design will be available in North America.

Tags: vehicles, automotive, auto, car

Popularity: 65% [?]

Volvo thought its contest was a clever but innocent promotion for the XC90.
Tied in with the new Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End film from Disney, the promotion asked contestants from 22 countries to solve a series of online puzzles, culminating in a hunt for a real-life treasure chest buried somewhere at the bottom of the sea.
They didn’t figure that the ship burying the chest would find a real treasure — or that the Spanish government would halt the whole enterprise while it was determined whether the treasure rightfully belongs to Spain.

Odyssey Marine Exploration, the company dispatched to bury the Volvo prize chest, selected a top-secret burial location off Gibraltar near Spain. While on the trip, however, Odyssey’s crew found a fortune in silver coins elsewhere, deep in the Atlantic Ocean, in a 17th-century shipwreck they named the “Black Swan.” The Spanish government — not knowing about the Volvo promotion because of Odyssey’s agreement to keep it secret — suspected Odyssey of taking the booty from Spanish waters. While the issue is sorted out, the winner of the Volvo competition, Alena Zvereva from Ekaterinberg, Russia, can’t get her hands on the keys to a new XC90 and $50,000 in gold coins that are tucked away on the sea floor in Volvo’s treasure chest. Volvo promises she’ll get the reward, although the trip out to get it from the ocean floor may not take place for a while, if at all.

“We wanted an adventure, and we certainly got one,” quipped Volvo Cars of North America National Advertising Manager Linda Gangeri. Volvo’s Web site for the promotion is called simply The Hunt.

Tags: volvo vehicles, volvo, auto, automotive

Popularity: 67% [?]

Volvo’s entry level S40 sedan has led the last two full-line Volvo makeovers, each of which has met with critical acclaim. Despite the fact that the S40 and its V50 wagon sibling were last redesigned in late 2003 and are both still looking great, like vain Hollywood 30-somethings they’ve gone under the knife for a nip-tuck anyway. It’s nothing overly serious, just a retool of the soft parts on either end, but the result is striking and serves to heighten the resemblance of the Volvo S40 to the new flagship S80, and the V50 to its V70 sibling, which is thoroughly renewed for 2008.

Specifically, the S40’s face gets new headlamps, a deeper-set chrome-ringed grille with a larger Volvo emblem, and a single lower air intake spanning the width of the chin. The V40 retains its three lower air intakes to emphasize a strong vertical element and gets a prominent black egg-crate grille like the V70’s in front. New taillamps and a fascia with new exhaust outlets freshen the rear of both models. An R-design sport-appearance package will become available soon on both the S40 and V50 (also the C70), consisting of lowered front and rear spoilers and side sills, a modest rear wing, and more.
Both models’ interiors are freshened to offer more storage space in the doors and the center console, which now includes two cubbies thanks to a new, more space-efficient handbrake design. The trademark slim, freestanding center stack that holds the radio and climate controls can now be finished in Scandinavian oak plywood, to resemble a bent-wood chair (the veneer face is oak, the plywood plies are a resin material-they can’t actually bend plywood that thick and use it for a dash, as it would splinter in an accident).

Speaking of safety, the BLindspot Information System (BLIS) is a new stand-alone option ($695), tire-pressure monitoring is standard, and the hazard lights are now programmed to come on automatically in any accident that triggers the airbags. Self-steering bi-Xenon headlamps are new options for the top T5 models ($800).
The range-topping turbocharged T5 variants of each get nine more horsepower, for a total of 227, and that’s about all that changes under the skin. We took a test drive in the new S40 T5, and we have to say that the four percent boost in power is less easy to feel through the seat of the pants than is the torque steer through the wheel rim-at least on our front-drive tester. It’s not at all unruly-one needn’t establish a death grip on the wheel before lowering the hammer, but the effort goes unnaturally light at launch and when the Geartronic transmission upshifts to second under full throttle, especially when the car isn’t heading straight ahead. It’s a subtle reminder that this entry-luxmobile shares DNA with the Ford Focus and Mazda3 compacts.

The S40 and V50 may not sell themselves to enthusiast drivers based solely on the way they carve corners and dust the quarter mile; but neither should their dynamics deter the hip, IKEA-loyal, young prospective buyers lured by their now even better-looking exterior styling and unmistakably Scandinavian interiors.

Other Volvo Cars
Test Drive:2007 Volvo S80 V8 AWD
First Drive Experience-Volvo XC70 D5
First Drive Experience-Volvo V70 3.2 Geartronic

Tags: automotive, volvo car, vehicles, autos

Popularity: 68% [?]

The latest announcement for the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race is of a Russian entry backed by St Petersburg supermarket entrepreneur Oleg Zherebtsov. There is no word yet of a stopover in Russia but race chief executive Glenn Bourke has a strategy of matching entries with a port of call.

This is the first entry from the former Eastern Bloc since Odessa Challenge and Hetman Sahaidachny in 1993-94. The team are led by two former Volvo Ocean Race staff – Briton Michael Woods continues the management role while Austrian Andreas Hanakamp is skipper.

Zherebtsov’s entry brings to seven the number entered now that Ericsson have confirmed that their second boat will be a ‘new faces’ crew skippered by Sweden’s Anders Lewander.

In Valencia yesterday, the former Swiss America’s Cup yacht SUI 75 was moved from static display and will be re-commissioned following Volvo champion Mike Sanderson’s purchase of it for Sir Keith Mills’ Origin start-up America’s Cup team.

source

Tags: car, auto, volvo

Popularity: 69% [?]

If rumours are true, production of the FH-16 Globetrotter (L) and S80 may once again be controlled by AB Volvo.

If hindsight is 20/20, then leaders at AB Volvo apparently have perfect vision. Nearly 10 years after the sale of Volvo Cars to Ford, the commercial vehicle juggernaut is reportedly looking to buy it back.

According to the business daily Dagens Industri, undisclosed sources claim the Swedish company is investigating buying a minority share of its former automotive division.

Also potentially involved is French automaker Renault SA. After selling its commercial vehicles and Mack Trucks divisions, it currently owns a 20 percent stake in AB Volvo.

Analysts doubted such a possibility, claiming that buying into Volvo Cars would demonstrate a lack of “industrial logic” on AB Volvo’s part.

After the sale of the automotive unit, AB Volvo concentrated on strengthening its position in heavy-duty trucks. With the acquisition of Mack and Renault Trucks in 2000, along with the purchase of Nissan Diesel in 2007, the Gothenburg-based company is the second-largest truck maker worldwide.

Representatives from AB Volvo have not publicly voiced any interest in returning to the automotive market in recent years and continue to downplay such a possibility. Likewise, Volvo Cars spokeswoman Maria Bohlin refused to comment on “speculations in the media.”

source

Popularity: 66% [?]

Now that Ford has put the remainder of its Premier Automotive Group (PAG) on EBay, it's time to evaluate the soon-to-jettisoned divisions' prospects. As "going concerns," Land Rover and Jaguar are like a cartoon character who just ran off a cliff; the only thing that keeps them from plunging into oblivion is [momentary] ignorance that they're about to plunge into oblivion. Business wise, Volvo is the Daffy Duck of the group: a major star that somehow graduated to the role of successful sidekick. As brands, well, that's a different matter. Or, as it turns out, not.    

Popularity: 64% [?]

Adoption is a lengthy process. Prospective parents must submit to all kinds of scrutiny to prove themselves suitable child care providers. And for good reason. You can’t give ‘em back, as they say. Not so in the business world. Ford has officially put siblings Jaguar and Land Rover up for sale, with some sources placing Volvo’s custody in question. The move ends nearly a year of speculation, or nearly two decades of speculation, depending on how prophetic you’ve been.

Popularity: 62% [?]

\Volvo is a car brand was founded on April 14, 1927 by Assar Gabrielson and Gustaf Larsson in Gothenburg, Sweden. It is a Latin word which means “I roll.” The symbol for Volvo’s cars, which is a circle with a diagonal arrow, was originally the sign for iron. The reason behind using this symbol was that they wanted to associate Volvo cars with Swedish steel which is renowned for its durability. Since then, the iron symbol has been synonymous with Volvo throughout the world. Volvo cars are known for their strong Scandinavian origin which is apparent in the elegance, function and cleanness in their designs. With this alone, one can say what every Volvo car is worth. Only high quality parts are used to produced a Volvo car and only Volvo OEM parts should be used to replace these parts in the future. Though OEM parts may be a little bit more expensive than after market parts, it’s also true that you can’t put a price tag on safe and quality Volvo parts. OEM parts or original equipment manufacturer parts are basically the parts that are used in the assembly of the Volvo car brand. They are genuine and often implied as high quality compared to after market parts.

Autor: John Garett

John Garret is an automobile mechanic who knows every crook and cranny of his truck. He’s also a vintage car enthusiast, and he’s dedicated to fixing and restoring them. He is a motorist who believes in continuous research and improvement.

Added: June 13, 2007
Source: http://contentdesk.com/view.php

Tags: volvo

Popularity: 79% [?]

When parking a Volvo in a dimly-lit space, the driver will surely be having a hard time looking behind without proper illumination. On a tight grid, vehicles in front and from behind is in danger of having a collision with the vehicle since these vehicles don’t know the proper whereabouts of the car. In this regard, the

Autor: John Garett

John Garret is an automobile mechanic who knows every crook and cranny of his truck. He’s also a vintage car enthusiast, and he’s dedicated to fixing and restoring them. He is a motorist who believes in continuous research and improvement.

Added: June 13, 2007
Source: http://contentdesk.com/view.php

Tags: volvo

Popularity: 59% [?]