One of the major fears consumers have regarding electric vehicles, besides range anxiety, is how these cars are going to function in rough weather conditions. We all know batteries are sensitive to extreme temperatures, which can affect their capacity of storing electricity.
This is why Volvo is trying out its C30 Electric model in the north of Sweden, inside the Arctic Circle. Temperatures as low as -20 degrees Celsius are something normal in this part of the world, so Volvo engineers want to ensure the battery-powered car runs smoothly even in harsh environments.
Volvo Art Session is the name of an experiment done by Volvo Cars Switzerland, in which ten street artists were provided with an S60 sedan that they could use as a canvas to create different designs.
Imagine safely enjoying your morning coffee and reading the newspaper behind the steering wheel, while your car is traveling at highway speeds. Well, this could be a reality in as little as ten years time, thanks (or no thanks...) to the European Union-funded SARTRE (Safe Road Trains for the Environment) project, which successfully tested the concept of vehicle platooning at the Volvo Proving Ground close to Gothenburg, Sweden.Read more »
And you thought your latest weekend track race was adrenaline-filled... Enter the realm of Jonny Reid, one of New Zealand's top racing drivers. The 27-year-old Kiwi put a brand new 2011 Volvo S60 to the test around Hampton Downs raceway in Auckland. Nothing spectacular there you say? How about if we told you that he did it blindfolded? Yes, that's right; the young racing driver couldn't see a thing.
According to the promo event's organizers, it took Reid more than one try but in the end, he managed to return a lap time of 1:28 with a top speed of 193km/h (119 mph). "He was guided only by the feel of the car, his knowledge of the track, and co-driver Earl Bamber's voice," said Volvo. Pretty neat, though we're not sure who was the bravest of the two; the driver or the co-driver... Scroll down to watch the clips.
This is officially the second safety system demonstration in as many "Look at this!" announcements that has gone horribly wrong for Volvo. That's right, two. The first one was back in May and led to a new S60 estate crushing itself into the back of a truck - see the video here. This latest mishap occurred during a media demonstration to Australian journalists in Europe. Read more »
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.
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.
Once a maker of some of the most boring to drive and mundane-looking bricks on wheels cars in the industry, Volvo has managed to turn up some pretty interesting proposals over the past few years - no thanks to FoMoCo's involvement.
Their latest and most likely last vehicle to be developed under the "loving" arms of Ford before the Swedish company falls into the hands of China's Geely Motors, is the all-new Volvo S60 sedan that will premiere at the Geneva Salon on March 2.
That we already knew. What we didn't know is that Volvo may surprise us with a sporty version(s) of the S60 as this blurred teaser image and a series of videos titled "Naught Volvos Are Coming" suggest.
Together with a full set of images and detailed specs, Volvo also published several video clips of the all-new 2011 S60 sedan including a short promotional film, driving footage, beauty shots and even one that shows the car slamming into a wall during the safety tests.
The new Swedish mid size sedan with the refreshing styling will have its formal debut at the Geneva Salon next month and go on sale this summer.
At launch, the 2011 S60 will offer a menu of two petrol and two diesel engines (depending on the market) including a new 2.0-liter turbocharged gasoline unit with 203HP. Watch the videos after the break.
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 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.
Automakers and their respective marketing departments / advertising agencies come up with all sorts of ideas to generate interest in their current or future products - some successful, others not so much. For the promotion of its new 2011 S60 sedan that will be officially revealed at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2010, Volvo's Live Communication and Social Media decided to take a rather unconventional approach by calling in a blind Turkish artist named Esref Armagan to 'sample' the finished model and draw a picture of the car.
"Since the car itself is not being launched until the Geneva Motor Show next year, this is a unique way for us to show an extraordinary artist's rendition of the forthcoming model," commented Lukas Dohle, director of Live Communication and Social Media at Volvo Cars.
As you may suspect, Armagan, who is said to have painted everything from historic buildings, seascapes, flowers and forests to a portrait of former US President Bill Clinton, uses his hands and the rest of his senses to recognize the shape of the object he is painting.
This however, was the first time that the talented Turkish artist attempted to draw a car. "It was an honour for me to be asked to do this and I take it as a confirmation of my ability as an artist," said Esref Armagan.
The next-generation Volvo S60, which is based on the 2009 Detroit Show concept, won't be launched onto the market until summer of 2010, but the folks over at Sweden's Teknikensvarld magazine were invited by Volvo to Copenhagen, Denmark to check out a prototype version fitted with firm's new "Automatic Braking System". As you may have already guessed, the test vehicle was slathered in cladding, so don't expect to get a preview of the car.
What we do get to see are some details of the interior and of course, a taste of the "Automatic Braking System" - Volvo's next generation of preventive safety technology that detects pedestrians who have walked into the roadway and automatically avoid collisions at speeds under 25 km/h (16mph) if the driver does not react in time.
Once the system detects the pedestrians, it warns the driver through a series of audio and visual alerts on the windscreen's head-up display. Volvo says that if the driver does not respond to the warnings and the system assesses that a collision is about to happen, then it automatically applies the car's brakes with full braking power.
On Monday, Volvo announced that it has teamed up with Swedish energy giant Vattenfall to introduce plug-in hybrid models to the market in 2012. But before we see the final production cars arriving in showrooms, Volvo will present a trio of V70 diesel plug-in hybrid demonstrator cars this summer to test the new technology. Click through to watch the video that includes interviews with several Volvo officials as well as footage of the demo V70 plug-in hybrid in action.
In about a year's time, Swedish automaker Volvo will perform the market launch of the all new S60 premium sedan that will be heavily based on the stylish S60 Concept that made its global debut at the Detroit Show this past January. We've already seen static footage of the four-door coupe design study but now Sweden's Teknikens Varld magazine took the one-off concept car for a quick spin. Unfortunately, Google has yet to find a way to automatically translate audio from videos, so unless you happen to hook up with a bilingual Swedish gal, you're better off lowering the volume in order to enjoy to the ride.
Earlier today, Volvo published the first photos of the 2010 MY S80 saloon that received a mid-life facelift which includes subtle visual changes as well as two revised diesel engines and a new eco-friendly, but underpowered, DRIVe variant fitted with a 1.6-liter turbo diesel delivering an output of 109HP. The new S80 will be unveiled for the first time at the Geneva Auto Show in early March with sales commencing this spring.
