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Volvo offers up more details on 2015 XC90 and its new infotainment system

We have more details on the 2015 Volvo XC90 and the all-new, touch-heavy infotainment system that will debut with it. An expansion of the Sensus system, as we've shown you before, we now know the new system won't only sport a large, vertically oriented touchscreen, but a head-up display and the ability to manage the systems via wheel-mounted buttons.
Key to the entire experience are the large, portrait-oriented touchscreen, a head-up display and the thumb controls you can see on the face of the steering wheel in the image above. Volvo is claiming that this combination will be easier to use and, fittingly for the Swedish manufacturer, safer.
"Using the screen is so logical that it will become part of your muscle memory very quickly," said Dr. Peter Mertens, Volvo's senior vice president of research and development. "Information, navigation and media are high up and easy to check. The phone controls, application icons and climate controls are located low, comfortable to reach and touch. All of this logic is based on extensive usability and user experience research and the latest technology."

How the Chinese tycoon driving Volvo plans to tackle Tesla

HANGZHOU, China — "Do you know how big Volvo is?" asked Don Leclair, finance chief at Ford. It was 2008, and Leclair was responding to an offer from a little-known Chinese businessman to purchase the Swedish carmaker, which Ford owned. The businessman, Li Shufu, had a company with less than half Volvo's sales and a flagship model, King Kong, almost unknown outside China. He was politely shown the door of the "Glass House," Ford's iconic headquarters near Detroit, according to two people who were at the meeting. Ford's Leclair did not respond to requests for comment about the episode. Fast-forward to 2021 and Li Shufu's company, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, is one of the biggest-selling automakers in the world's biggest auto market. It controls not only Volvo Cars but also a clutch of global auto brands, and a significant stake in German giant Daimler AG, the maker of Mercedes-Benz. These names are now part of its plans for a revolution in autos. Geely is preparing Volvo for a listing on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange as a route towards the future of transportation: One where cars are part of an electrified network of mobility services, driving themselves, connecting to each other and — like cellphones — generating an array of data and new business opportunities. It's a vision more Silicon Valley than Detroit, where traditional automakers globally are chasing another giant — Tesla Inc. Li Shufu and his advisers eventually convinced Ford to part with Volvo in 2010 for $1.8 billion. It was the first in a string of deals, tapping brands such as Lotus, Smart and the London Electric Vehicle Company to form a network that he calls a "bigger circle of friends" across industry segments. Li Shufu sees them as building blocks to help Geely compete in a future where autos are not vehicles, but "service providers," he told Reuters in his management suite at Geely's headquarters in Hangzhou, eastern China. In that business model, cars will be available on subscription and offer services such as making payments and in-car apps. They will update their own software, and spawn opportunities in the same way as the mobile operating systems developed by Apple Inc and Google. "We are trying to create an automotive ecosystem similar to Android," he said. Li Shufu, 58, recently adopted a foreign first name - Eric - because he liked the sound of it.

Volvo Polestar reveals new V8 Supercars engine

Volvo may be better known for turbo fives and inline fours, but in 2005 it launched the XC90 with a new eight-cylinder engine built for it by Yamaha. Fast forward to this past June when Volvo announced its intention to enter Australia's V8 Supercars series, where it would compete with the likes of Ford, Holden, Nissan and Mercedes-AMG. This is the engine with which it intends to do so.
Revealed this weekend at the Sydney 500, this competition-spec powerplant is based on the same B8444S that powered the XC90 and S80 (not to mention the Noble M600), but tuned for racing duty to be shoehorned into the new S60 touring car. The 60-degree aluminum block has been bored out from 4.4 liters to 5.0, its compression ratio boosted to 10:1, modified to run on E85 bio-ethanol and its redline increased to 7500 rpm. Volvo also promises a unique engine note from its new racers.
While Volvo and its racing partner Polestar haven't released official output numbers, regulations call for outputs between 620 and 650 horsepower - in any event, a whole lot more than the 311 hp it produces in stock form. (Noble managed to squeeze that much out of the same block, but that required twin turbochargers while this unit remains naturally aspirated.) Scope out the details in the press release below and the photos from the reveal in the gallery above.