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IIHS says these are the safest cars of 2013

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has revealed its annual list of Top Safety Picks, an award that highlights automobiles it says offer "superior crash protection." A new and still more significant award, the Top Safety Pick+ honor, is given to those vehicles that earn good ratings for occupant protection in four out of five areas of measure. And while some 117 vehicles were given the TSP seal of approval for 2013, just 13 passed muster for TSP+.
To be fair, IIHS only evaluated 29 vehicles with its new testing procedures for TSP+ (we'd expect that the number of qualified cars will rise substantially for 2014). Luxury and Near Luxury midsize cars were the first groups evaluated, followed by midsizers in the Moderately Priced Cars category - unsurprisingly, it's only midsize cars that you'll find among the class this year.
Only two luxury sedans made the list of 13 for 2013: the Acura TL and Volvo S60. The other 11 cars on the list included entries from domestic, Japanese and German car makers: Dodge Avenger, Chrysler 200, Ford Fusion, Honda Accord (sedan and coupe), Kia Optima (but not its close kin, the Hyundai Sonata, strangely), Nissan Altima, Subaru Legacy and Outback, Suzuki Kizashi and the Volkswagen Passat all made the grade.

Daimler and Volvo plan hydrogen fuel cell truck production in 2025

LONDON — Daimler's truck unit and Volvo said on Thursday they would start making hydrogen fuel cells in Europe in 2025 via a joint venture, and called for EU policies to help make the zero-emission technology commercially viable. The rival German and Swedish makers of large freight-hauling trucks formed their venture, Cellcentric, in March. They said they would provide more details on large-scale fuel production in 2022, but said Cellcentric was already scaling up prototype output. "Partnerships like Cellcentric are vital to our commitment to decarbonizing road transport," Volvo Chief Executive Martin Lundstedt said in a statement. Aside from the fuel-cell joint venture, the two companies remain competitors. Both hope to test fuel-cell trucks in about three years and start mass producing trucks in the second half of this decade. The European Union has been pushing tighter emission standards, fueling a boom in zero-emission electric cars. But batteries in electric vehicles are very heavy, and hydrogen fuel cells are seen as a potentially more viable zero-emission power systems for long-haul freight in the future. Fuel cells produce electricity from hydrogen, emitting only water. The two truck makers called for the construction of around 300 hydrogen refueling stations suitable for heavy-duty vehicles in Europe by 2025 and about 1,000 stations by 2030. During a video conference with the two firms, European Commissioner for Transport Adina Valean said the commission would this summer propose a revised alternative fuels directive. She said this "will include binding requirements for rolling out hydrogen fueling infrastructure ... and financial support will be available where needed." Automaker Stellantis said this year it would begin deliveries in Europe of its first medium-sized vans powered by hydrogen fuel cells by the end of 2021. Stellantis said at the time that Germany had 90 hydrogen stations and France had 25 — a tiny fraction of the thousands of petrol stations available for fossil-fuel vehicles today. As zero-emission trucks are significantly more expensive than fossil-fuel models, Daimler and Volvo said a "policy framework is needed to ensure demand and affordability." The two companies said policies should include subsidies for "CO2-neutral technologies and a taxation system based on carbon and energy content." Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Volvo S60 Polestar entering limited production in Australia [w/video]

The Volvo S60 Polestar Concept may be entering limited production in Australia and, depending how the Aussies take to this Swedish super sports sedan, could then be made available worldwide. The news comes from Austrlia's GoAuto, which claims to have received early info from its sources inside Volvo and its tuning/motorsport arm, Polestar.
Polestar released a short teaser video this week (watch it below) of what appears to be the S60 Polestar Concept clipping the snowy apex of an ice track's turn. The only information given with the teaser were the words "Limited Edition. Soon in Australia." Unveiled last June, the S60 Polestar concept has since made the rounds at auto shows, visited Jay Leno's Garage, played on the track with its future competition, and even secured a home for itself with a buyer who reportedly is paying Volvo some $300,000 to own it.
The S60 Polestar Concept is about the meanest machine one can imagine making out of Volvo's sports sedan. Packing 508 horsepower and 424 pound-feet of torque from its heavily modified T6 engine, then routing those revolutions through a six-speed manual transmission to all four wheels, the S60 Polestar is said to cover the sprint to 62 miles per hour in 3.9 seconds. A lower and wider body, brakes by Brembo, suspension bits by Ohlins and a diet to delete some weight make this car a serious issue for M3 and C63 AMG owners everywhere. GoAuto's sources say the production version's performance will be dialed back a bit from the concept's, but we'll have to wait until Volvo and Polestar make this sedan's production official to find out by how much.