2011 Volvo C30 T5 on 2040-cars

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2015.5 Volvo S60 and V60 Polestar [w/video]

Polestar Performance has been around since 1996, but until recently, it only did two things: manage Volvo motorsports operations and run a specialist consumer-facing side that built concept cars and boosted Volvo's turbocharged production cars by 15 to 60 horsepower. Five years ago, it fulfilled its long-held desire to engineer an actual production car, first creating the C30 Polestar Performance Concept, a showcar that led to the C30 Polestar Limited Edition.
That foray led to the berserker, 508-horsepower 2013 S60 Polestar Concept that Auto Motor und Sport called "a hard slap in the face to the Germans," and that model led to the limited-edition S60 Polestar production car just for Australia, a car reviewers swooned for, with one comparing its chassis finesse to the Ferrari 458 Italia.
All of which is to say, Polestar has a good start for a motorsports and tuning company to make good on its production car dreams. The 2015 Volvo S60 Polestar and V60 Polestar keep that momentum going, and beautifully at that.

Volvo Cars' earnings top pre-pandemic levels in boost ahead of possible IPO

STOCKHOLM — Volvo Cars reported a return to profit in the first half as demand for electric cars pushed earnings above pre-pandemic levels, putting the carmaker on a firmer footing as it considers a possible IPO this year. Sweden-based Volvo, owned by China's Geely Holding, said on Friday it made a first-half profit of 13.24 billion Swedish crowns ($1.52 billion), more than double its profit of 5.52 billion crowns in the corresponding period of 2019, before the coronavirus struck. Like several other automakers Volvo has been forced to cut production due to global shortages of semiconductors, but it said a strong market recovery from last year's plunge during the pandemic helped first-half revenue rise by 26% to 141 billion crowns. "The pandemic effect, when it comes to our business, we don't see it anymore," Chief Executive Hakan Samuelsson told Reuters. "All our employees have not been vaccinated yet, but sales and production are really back to where we were." The company, which is eyeing an initial public offering before the end of this year, said all its regions showed solid growth and improved market shares, with chargeable cars representing 25% of total sales. Samuelsson said the evaluation process ahead of a potential IPO was progressing according to plan, adding the firm was still considering listing on the Stockholm stock exchange in the second half of 2021. "The company stands stronger than ever and we are in the midst of a very substantial transformation ... It has to be financed and access to the stock market is of course positive then," Samuelsson said. Volvo Cars had been heavily affected at the start of the pandemic, plunging to a 989 million loss in the first half of 2020. The company on Friday kept its second-half outlook for flat sales and revenue growth year on year, "unless supply of semiconductors improves". It said earlier this month that first-half sales rose 41% to 380,757 cars. The Gothenburg-based firm plans to become a fully electric car maker by 2030, sell 600,000 battery electric vehicles at mid-decade, and build a European battery gigafactory in 2026. ($1 = 8.6821 Swedish crowns) (Reporting by Helena Soderpalm; editing by Niklas Pollard and Susan Fenton) Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Volvo introduces 2022 C40 Recharge crossover

New electric Volvo crossover on the way, to be built in the U.S.

Automotive News reports that Volvo has a new electric crossover coming, the intel relayed by "two sources familiar with the plans." Said to be codenamed V546 at the moment, the new product is said to slot in between the XC60 and XC90. If size is a factor in its tweener placement, the XC60 is 185 inches long, the XC90 195 inches long, so the V546 could be about the length of the 189-inch Ford Edge. The sources claim it will ride on a new electric platform, which could be SPA2 bones that will support the coming electric XC90 and that the Concept Recharge electric crossover study (pictured) sits on. The Swedish automaker debuted the Concept Recharge in June last year as a template of future styling cues, sustainable materials, and advanced infotainment and autonomous technology. The AN piece says we'll see that some design and tech transfer into the V546. Out of a global production of about 100,000 units, 40% will be allotted to Volvo's plant in Ridgeville, South Carolina, to serve the North American market, starting in early 2025. That leaves an available capacity of 110,000 units out of the plant's 150,000-unit annual cap. The four-year-old plant builds just the S60 sedan at the moment — turning out roughly 23,000 units last year — but is transitioning to an all-EV assembly operation. Before the V546 arrives in three years, the Ridgeville facility will add the battery-electric version of the next-generation XC90, thought to be called the Embla, and the battery-electric Polestar 3, both hitting the market in 2023. Volvo Cars CEO Hakan Samuelsson has said Ridgeville will "be the only plant in the [Volvo Cars Group] which only makes full-electric cars."  And although it's fallen off the radar, we're still anticipating the new flagship XC100 to debut in 2023 as well. AN's Future Product Pipeline says the top model will come in six- and seven-seat layouts akin to what BMW and Range Rover do, with the six-seater bolting up captain's chairs in the second row. Ridgeville also gets the nod for this one, production said to begin in early 2023.  Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. 2022 C40 Recharge crossover