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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.

Volvo won't go after S-Class, 7 Series market

Volvo vice president of powertrain engineering, Derek Crabb, recently said that the Swedish automaker is developing smaller and smarter powertrain options that will "turn V8s into dinosaurs" - a statement that could have been our first indication that Volvo is no longer looking to create a luxury flagship sedan to take on German land yachts like the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Audi A8 and BMW 7 Series. Now Automotive News seems to be backing this up after speaking with CEO Hakan Samuelsson, who said that a big sedan wouldn't fit the brand's green image and, more importantly, might not even be a car that its customers would even consider.
Rather than trying to compete in a small, established market against rear-drive, 12-cylinder sedans, Volvo is looking at the emerging, higher-volume premium small car segment to take on its German rivals with the all-new Volvo V40 (shown above). Not wanting to abandon the big-vehicle segment altogether, a next-generation XC90 is due out within the next couple years (and was spotted in some recent spy shots), and it will ride on the new Scalable Platform Architecture (SPA), which will be shared with the new S80 according to the AN article.

Volvo Cars leaps 22% in IPO stock debut — a big endorsement for EVs

Volvo Cars CEO Hakan Samuelsson at the automakers' stock market opening bell on Friday in Stockholm. (Getty Images)   STOCKHOLM — Volvo Cars shares surged 22% on their Stockholm market debut on Friday after wrapping up Europe's biggest IPO of the year so far, in a boost for new issues markets and carmakers' vision of an electric future. The Gothenburg-based company cut the size of its listing and priced it at the bottom of a previously-announced range UPDATE 3-Volvo Cars gives itself $18 bln price tag as cuts IPO size - Reuters News on Monday, valuing it at just over $18 billion and making it Sweden's second largest listing yet. But the successful deal and strong market reaction — which propels the valuation to about $22 billion — is a lift for a European automotive industry that has embarked on a challenging transition towards electric vehicles (EVs). It also shows that while the euphoria over initial public offerings (IPO) in the first half of 2021 is over, the market is open for new listings of big companies with a story to tell. Volvo Cars Chief Executive Hakan Samuelsson said the listing showed a recognition of its transition plans, adding it would be key for Volvo to demonstrate it is on track to be the "fastest transformer." "There's a much bigger interest in the market to invest in electric car makers than in the conventional ones. So we better do what we said we would," he told Reuters in an interview. Shares in the carmaker, which is majority owned by China's Geely Holding, were trading at 64.70 Swedish crowns ($7.59) at 1057 GMT, after being priced at 53 crowns in the IPO. Polestar Apart from Volvo's commitment to becoming a purely electric carmaker by 2030, it also has a 49% stake in EV venture Polestar, which said in September it would go public through a $20 billion deal. Samuelsson said Polestar had a "good valuation." "They are already electric... showing in a way what the potential would be for Volvo if this (the transformation) is done in the right way." A source familiar with Volvo's transaction said the outcome of this week's IPO was good, even though investors had pushed back and forced Volvo to price at the bottom of the announced range. "The company had to compromise on size and the governance structure. They were hoping for a read across on Polestar, but they were clearly not getting that," the source said, requesting anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the press.