Archive for Volvo

Volvo made a bold announcement this week - to have an injury-proof car by the year 2020. Sweden’s head of traffic safety Claes Tingvall doubts the target can be achieved, but I think we all know what is important would be the increases in vehicle safety research and development and new production-worthy safety systems that Volvo will be churning out leading up to 2020.

“I think if you look into the future, we as a community will not accept that we have injuries,” says Jan Ivarsson, head of Volvo’s safety team. Ivarsson’s predecessor invented the three-point seatbelt way back in the 1950s, which is now a standard feature in all cars. Volvo also pioneered crumple zones, side airbags and rear-facing child seats, which all contribute to increased vehicle occupant safety.

In the long run, Ivarsson is of the opinion that we may even have uncrashable cars, which can automatically steer, accelerate and brake out of harm’s way in the case of an imminent car crash.

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Volvo V70’s R-DESIGN package will be able to be ordered from this month onwards in the UK, with the first R-DESIGN V70s to be delivered in August this year.

The R-DESIGN package includes stiffer anti-roll bars and bushings as well as 20mm front and 15mm rear lower ground clearance to help with handling and steering responsiveness. Aesthetically, the R-DESIGN kit features a silver matt-finish front grille with the R-DESIGN badge, silver matte door mirrors, chrome exhaust pipes, a rear spoiler, and 18 inch Cratus alloy wheels.

On the interior of the car, the leather upholstery has the R-DESIGN logo embossed, and the front seats are slightly more sportier with better side support. There is also an R-DESIGN leather steering wheel, aluminium interior trim, sports pedals, a sports gearlever, and new instrument dials with blue inserts.

More images of the Volvo V70 R-DESIGN after the jump.

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Volvo has developed this Volvo V70 2.5 FlexiFuel Turbo police car for the UK Emergency Services, and will be available from June 2008 onwards. The UK government has a requirement that requires all police districts to operate a minimum of 20% FlexiFuel vehicles, so the new V70 FlexiFuel Turbo will be a welcome addition.

The Volvo V70 2.5FT police car’s 2.5 liter Flexifuel Turbo engine makes 200 horsepower and 300Nm of torque between 1,500 to 4,500rpm, and gets to 100km/h in 7.6 seconds. It can run with the same power output on either regular petrol or Flexifuel (E85), a blend of 15% regular petrol and 85% bioethanol.

One more shot after the jump.

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Volvo seems to be really pushing the Volvo C30 as a fun hatchback, but I think this optional feature is abit too whacko. Stickers as decorations for cars are quite common-place - Proton has been quite notorious in the past with its compulsory optional stickers that cost a few hundred ringgit, and Naza has recently announced a new line of Edisi Grafix stickers for the Naza Suria.

The Volvo C30 is now available with a choice of about 20 designs which include things like the rainbow pattern above, polka dots, zebra stripes and many more. These designs are actually an applique film, which is removable, and also serves to protect the car. The film is designed to last about two years, after of which it can be replaced with a new design or removed completely.

Each designs cost about 2,000 Euros, or about RM10,000 ringgit. Check out three more designs after the jump, or click here to view all the designs available!

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Volvo has made the R-DESIGN kit standard equipment on its Volvo C30 hatchback, down from the 1.6 liter petrol engine up to the 230 horsepower turbocharged inline-5.

The R-DESIGN kit features a bodykit, rear spoiler, the R-DESIGN logo on the grille and alloy wheels, off-black T-Tec fabric with contrasting cream leather embossed with the R-DESIGN logo, blue instrument dials, a leather sports steering wheel, aluminium ridged sports pedals and a gear knob with aluminium inserts.

More photos after the jump.

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For those not satisfied with looking at the the Volvo XC60 in static photos, you will find a driving shots video of the Volvo XC60 after the jump. Shame there is no audio though, no chance to hear that turbocharged V6, but at least there’s no tacky techno music.

Related Posts:
2009 Volvo XC60 to be unveiled at Geneva 2008

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Volvo’s new X3 competitor will make its public production debut at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show. The new 2009 model year Volvo XC60 is what Volvo claims the most stunning Volvo ever, as well as the safest.

“This car is charged with more emotive form and more energy than any other Volvo. We’re elevating our design DNA to an entirely new level by literally turning up the visual volume. If you say that you’d recognise a Volvo from 300 feet away today, I dare say the XC60 radiates a clear Volvo presence from at least twice that distance,” says Steve Mattin, Volvo Cars Design Director.

If you look at it, it looks like Volvo has taken their usual design cues that are present in all of their cars right now, from the C30 up to the XC90 and applied Ford’s Kinetic design to it, making it look alot more sleek but essentially an evolution rather than a revolution. I think it works rather well and I like where Volvo is going with their styling. Volvo interiors are also one of the best places to be in, they really do know how to give car interiors an upmarket feel. There is a photo of the interior after the jump.

Some of the safety features that will come standard on the XC60 includes City Safety, which applies brakes if the car is about to drive into the vehicle in front and the driver does not appear to be able to react in time. Maybe you’re in a traffic jam or something and you’re dreaming away, or somehow distracted, there’s a chance that you’ll just ram into the car in front of you if you do not realise it has stopped.

Initially the Volvo XC60 will come with a single engine option - the 3.0 liter T6 engine with 281 horsepower and 400Nm of torque from as low as 1,500rpm. All-wheel drive is standard on the XC60.

More photos after the jump.

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The French court fined Swedish carmaker Volvo a sum of 200,000 Euros because allegedly the faulty brakes of a Volvo 850 TDI caused an accident which claimed two lives and injured one.

The accident happened nearly a decade ago in June 1999 in Wasselone, northeast France. It involved a schoolteacher who was 49 years old at the time. The schoolteacher knocked into three children on a pavement with her Volvo 850 TDI.

The schoolteacher was fined 300 Euros, send to jail for six months and got her driving license suspended for a year. She claimed that her Volvo 850 TDI’s brakes felt rigid and she could not stop in time.

Volvo is appealing against the court decision and rejects the theory that the accident was caused by a mechanical defect on the Volvo 850 TDI. It’s quite interesting to observe how the law system works in truly developed countries.

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Volvo joins the ranks of car manufacturers with twin clutch gearboxes, made extremely popular by Volkswagen with their BorgWarner DSG. Volvo’s twin clutch transmission is a 6-speed unit called Powershift.

Powershift is a wet clutch gearbox, with one clutch for the odd gears and reverse gear, while the other clutch handles the even gears. Like other twin clutch systems, the next gear is preselected so upshifts can be done nearly instantly, giving a continuous flow of power without disruption because of gear changes.

The first production Volvo cars to be fitted with the Powershift transmission will be the 136hp, 320Nm 4-cylinder turbodiesel variants of the Volvo C30, S40 and V50.

Being known as one of the pioneers in vehicle safety, Volvo has been constantly researching new ways to make motoring safer. Volvo has brought us technologies like the Blind Spot Information System that we have in the fully imported second generation 3.2 liter Volvo S80. Here are a few new vehicle safety technologies that Volvo is showcasing:

Volvo Collision Warning with Auto Brake

The Collision Warning with Auto Brake system helps the driver “see” people. It uses radar with a wide angel search area to detect objects in front of and around the car. If an object - say, a pedestrian - is detected, a red warning light will first come up on the car’s HUD, and a warning system will sound.

If the driver does not react to this, assisted panic braking is activated to help the driver when he slams on the brakes. If the driver somehow does not brake, the car activates the brakes automatically as a last resort - but only by 24km/h.

Volvo Collision Avoidance by Auto Steering

Collision Avoidance by Auto Steering is an advanced version of Lane Departure Warning, in which the latter uses a camera to monitor the position of the car in relative to lane markers.

This new system takes it further by using both a camera and radar to monitor the position of the car itself and oncoming traffic. If the car moves into a wrong lane and there is an oncoming object detected, the car automatically steers itself back into the original lane,

Vehicle to Vehicle Communication

Volvo is also testing out inter-vehicle communication - for example one car can receive information from another car further down the road and inform them of an obstacle in the middle of the road that has caused the driver to slam on the brakes and come to a halt. With this information, the other cars coming up the road can be warned before hand.

“With communication between vehicles, and between vehicles and the traffic environment, a large number of today’s accidents could be avoided. The major challenges are to find a standard “language” and the particular applications that are most urgent and effective,” says Jonas Ekmark, Manager for Preventive Safety at Volvo Cars Safety Centre.