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Volvo confirms unnamed US model reveal for NY show

Tucked into the press release for the "display debut" of the Volvo V60 Plug-In Hybrid at the New York Auto Show, Volvo snuck in a single line announcing that it will also be introducing a new model for the North American market. As much as we'd love to see the svelte V40 on American roads, we're pretty sure the automaker is looking to fill its US station wagon void with the V60.
The 2014 Volvo V60 is part of a comprehensive lineup update that was unveiled earlier this month in Geneva, and it would give Volvo dealers a conventional wagon (not including the XC70) for the first time since the V70 and V50 were killed off. We'll still be keeping our fingers crossed for the stylish V40 hatchback or the fuel-efficient V60 diesel hybrid, but we have to wait until next week to find out for sure.

Volvo celebrates 20 years since 850 wagons came to BTCC

This year Honda Yuasa Racing brought a station wagon back to the ranks of competitors in the British Touring Car Championship (its drivers currently sit in third and fifth place in the Championship). In 1994, however, Volvo was the first team to run an estate in the series that's one of the best for delivering close racing.
Rickard Rydell and Jan Lammers drove the duo of 850 Estates prepped by Tom Walkinshaw Racing, lining up at Thruxton and proving that the rumors of a wagon in the series weren't a joke. The team used that year for development, getting the 2.0-liter, 290-horsepower, naturally aspirated five-cylinder engine ready for the next year's proper assault. The team's best finish over the 21 races was a fifth place, and they took 14th overall.
Rules changes led Volvo to switch to the 850 sedan the following year, but all the right noises had been made with the wagon. Rydell drive on to a third-place overall finish in 1995, three years later he claimed the Championship title. You'll find details and reminiscing from Rydell in the press release below, as well as the full video with scenes from the glory days.

Volvo finds a way to turn body panels into batteries [w/video]

One of the problems with designing an electric vehicle is figuring out where to fit the battery pack. Volvo - as a part of a European Union research project - is working on a way around this issue by replacing standard parts with lightweight components that double as batteries on both conventional and plug-in vehicles. The image above shows one such piece on a Volvo S80. While looking like nothing more than a carbon fiber plenum cover, the piece is actually a battery pack that can store and supply enough energy for the car's entire 12-volt power system.
The parts are made by sandwiching super capacitors (which can charge faster than standard batteries) in between layers of carbon fiber. They can then be formed to replace numerous body panels such as the decklid, roof or door panels. Volvo says that the replacing the body panels and batteries with these nano batteries can help reduce the vehicle's weight by as much as 15 percent. It has taken more than three years just to design the batteries, so there's no telling when, or if, we'll ever see this technology used on a production vehicle. Scroll down for a video and press release on Volvo's innovative battery technology.