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Volvo recommits to Sweden with development of next-gen platform and engines

Taking into account the facts that Volvo is now owned by China's Geely and how poorly the European automotive market has been recently, we would have definitely understood if Volvo moved production of its products out of its home market. And yet, the automaker has confirmed that it will be investing billions of dollars into new platforms and engines that will be made in Sweden. On a global scale, Volvo is making roughly $11 billion of investments, and close to half of that is being earmarked for Sweden for plant expansion and upgrades.
The new Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) platform will be the used as the basis for most future Volvo products starting with the next-generation XC90 that will be debuting at the end of 2014. SPA will be used to make up two-thirds of Volvo's sales, and gives Volvo a quicker and easier break from Ford-derived platforms. As for the Volvo Engine Architecture (VEA) family of engines, there are really no details about this mill except that it will be a four-cylinder that is more fuel efficient than current engines.
Scroll down for the Volvo press release.

Volvo prices revamped 2014 lineup

Volvo has made quite a few changes to its US lineup for the 2014 model year. The C30 hatchback and C70 convertible are gone; the S60, S80, XC60 and XC70 have all been reschnozzed; and in a few months, Volvo will bring its V60 wagon across the pond for Stateside consumption. Only the range-topping XC90 carries on unchanged, though a brand new version is expected to launch sometime next year.
The S60 starts as low as $32,400 for the entry level T5 model, and reaches as high as $45,700 for the T6 R-Design Platinum trim. The larger S80 sedan starts at $39,900, with its range-topping T6 Platinum version commanding $48,150. XC70 pricing ranges anywhere from $34,500 for the 3.2 FWD to $45,650 for the T6 Platinum, XC60 numbers span from $34,850 to $49,800, and XC90 prices start as low as $39,700 and as high as $45,400. None of these prices include $895 for destination, and pricing for the swoopy V60 wagon has not been released just yet.
While the majority of Volvo's 2014 model year enhancements are visual, some neat updates have been made mechanically, as well. There's a new Advanced Quick Shift mode for the six-speed automatic transmission that's paired with the turbocharged six-cylinder engine, and Volvo says that the S60 R-Design will now scoot to 60 miles per hour two-tenths of a second quicker (5.3 versus 5.5). In the XC60 R-Design, AQS improves 0-60 acceleration by four-tenths of a second, down to 6.2 from 6.6 seconds.

Volvos will brake for bicyclists with new detection technology

Anyone who pedals a bicycle knows that one of the biggest dangers to riders is a motorized vehicle - Volvo estimates that nearly 50 percent of all cyclists killed in European traffic have collided with a car. In the United States alone, 618 riders lost their lives in bicycle/motor vehicle crashes in 2010, and the number of injuries surpassed 52,000.
To help drop those numbers, Volvo has just announced Cyclist Detection with full auto brake - a technology that detects and automatically applies a vehicle's brakes when a cyclist swerves in front of a moving car. The basic components of the system include a radar unit integrated into the front grille, a camera fitted in front of the interior rear-view mirror and a central control unit. The radar is tasked with seeing obstacles in front of the vehicle and calculating distance, while the camera is responsible to determine what the object is. The central control unit, with rapid processing capabilities, monitors and evaluates the situation.
The technology, which will be sold bundled with its Pedestrian Detection and called Pedestrian and Cyclist Detection, will automatically apply full braking when both the radar and camera confirm a pedestrian or cyclist are in the immediate path of the vehicle. According to the automaker, the technology will be offered on the Volvo V40, S60, V60, XC60, V70, XC70 and S80 models from mid-May in 2013.