1999 Volvo V70 X/c Awd Wagon. Cross Country. 2.4 Liter Turbo. on 2040-cars

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Volvo eying return to 100k US sales to ensure dealer profitability

Struggling Volvo may be on a verge of a renaissance thanks to the forthcoming completion of its lauded concept car trilogy, new Drive-E engine family and much-discussed SPA modular platform. Its nascent renewal is mostly being financed by $11-billion in funding from its Chinese parent company, Geely, and if it all goes right, Volvo hopes to sell 100,000 cars a year in the States by 2016. That milestone is vital, because it would ensure Volvo's US dealer network is profitable, according to Volvo CEO Håkan Samuelsson.
In a new Ward's Auto story, Samuelsson notes that his company is launching a slate of fresh products in the coming years, including the new-to-the-US V60 wagon and mid-cycle updates for its S60 sedan and XC60 crossover. But the most important new vehicle will be the recently spied XC90 that is expected to be unveiled just before the end of this year. Samuelsson is also looking at future vehicles for the US, including replacements for the S80 and V70. The V40 is also planned for the US, but not until the next generation, according to the Volvo CEO.
Of course, it's going to take a lot to reach 100,000 US sales in three years. Volvo sold just 61,233 units here in 2013, and according to WardsAuto, Volvo hasn't sold 100,000 cars in the US since 2007. To reach its goal, Volvo's stateside business will need to grow sales by about 40 percent.

AB Volvo to build trucks using steel forged without fossil fuel

STOCKHOLM — Swedish truck maker AB Volvo and steel maker SSAB have signed an agreement to produce the world's first vehicles made of fossil-free steel, the companies said on Thursday. Volvo plans to start production this year of prototype vehicles and components from steel made by SSAB using hydrogen produced from renewable energy. Small-scale serial production will start in 2022. "This is an important step on the road to completely climate-neutral transport," Volvo CEO Martin Lundstedt said. The vehicles and machines will be emissions-free in operation, Volvo said, without specifying how they would run, while adding the company is reviewing all the materials used in their construction to eliminate anything based on fossil fuels. It will be sourcing steel from green steel venture HYBRIT — which is owned by SSAB, Swedish state-owned utility Vattenfall and Swedish miner LKAB. Last August, it began test operations in Lulea, Sweden, to replace coking coal, traditionally needed for ore-based steel making, with fossil-free electricity and hydrogen, which in turn is produced using only renewable power. [L8N2FX3LV] China's Geely Holding, which has a stake in AB Volvo, owns Volvo Cars, which it has said will be fully electric by 2030.

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.