2003 Volvo S60 2.4t Sedan 4-door 2.4l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Volvo V90 wagon is beautiful, but it's dead in America [UPDATE]

Update: Roadshow reported that the V60 T5 variant is joining the V90 on its way out the door for the 2022 model year. However, the V60 T8 Polestar Engineered and V60 Cross Country will continue on, ensuring that the V60 nameplate does not disappear entirely from the U.S. We contacted Volvo about the news, and a spokesperson confirmed Roadshow's report. We're glad to hear that the performance variant of Volvo's V60 is sticking around, and if you want something more affordable, the lovely and lifted V60 Cross Country can check that box. The original story continues below.   Volvo, a brand practically synonymous with wagons in the U.S., is pulling the plug on one of the last great examples of the form. For Americans, at least. The beautiful and excellent Volvo V90 wagon will no longer be sold in America after the 2021 model year. Its demise was reported by Motor Trend, which didn't quote a source, so we reached out to Volvo for the official word: "Volvo will offer V90 Cross Country in MY22, but simplify the range and no longer offer the standard V90." The move has been foreshadowed for a long time, as Volvo has moved only 1,453 V90s from the car's debut in 2017 through the end of the 2020 model year. The figures don't break out the standard V90 versus the lifted V90 Cross Country, but we would bet that the V90 portion of that figure is infinitesimal.  As we've said in the past, it's a chicken-and-egg problem: The V90 wagon is available only via special order and is not marketed; you can't just walk onto a Volvo lot and choose from stock, as you can Volvo's hot-selling SUVs. Sales of the wagon have been slow for a long time, and earlier this year Volvo head honcho Hakan Samuelsson said the company would move away from wagons and into the arms of the in-demand crossovers. To be clear, the V90 Cross Country will still be available, as will the smaller V60 T8 Polestar Engineered wagon and V60 Cross Country. The loss is a gut-punch to wagon-loving enthusiasts. The V90 was universally well-reviewed, a competent and competitive car — and stunning to behold. It was a pure wagon form, unfettered by unnecessarily lifted suspensions or extra body cladding to make it appear more rugged. It handled better than its crossover cousins thanks to a lower center of gravity, and carried the torch for a long line of great wagons. We are in an arms race for taller, bulkier cars that handle worse and are indistinguishable from one another.

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.

Here are your 2016 North American Car and Truck/Utility of the Year finalists [w/polls]

The 2016 Detroit Auto Show will kick off with the announcement of the annual North American Car and Truck/Utility of the Year awards, and the three finalists in each category have just been revealed. Following this announcement, the jury – which includes Autoblog editor-in-chief Mike Austin – will re-evaluate each candidate before casting a final vote for the winner. This year's finalists are: Car of the Year Chevrolet Malibu Honda Civic Mazda MX-5 Miata Truck/Utility of the Year Honda Pilot Nissan Titan XD Volvo XC90 The 23rd annual awards will be announced on the morning of Monday, January 11. For now, we want to know where you stand. Let us know which vehicles you think should win, by voting in the polls below. Chevrolet Honda Mazda Nissan Volvo north american car of the year NACTOY