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Here's today's round of auto plant closures in response to coronavirus

More automakers have shuttered factories, as businesses everywhere work to slow the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus — and as the pandemic slows sales and disrupts parts supply chains. On Friday, the following closures were announced: • Volvo will close its factories in Sweden and the United States from March 26 to April 14. Volvo's U.S. facility, in Charleston, South Carolina, makes the S60 sedan. Its assembly plant in Torslanda, Sweden, turns out the XC90, SC60, and V90. Other Swedish facilities make engines and component parts. A Volvo factory in Ghent, Belgium, that builds the XC40 and V60 closed earlier this week and is expected to remain offline until April 6. Volvo's four factories in China have been reopened after a shutdown earlier this year. • Jaguar Land Rover announced that it will suspend production at its assembly plants in the UK over the coming week. The shutdown is expected to last until April 20. Elsewhere, production continues at the company's factories in India and Brazil, and JLR's joint-venture plant in China reopened at the end of February. • Bentley is closing its factory in Crewe, England, for four weeks, effective today. • Bugatti has put its atelier in Molsheim, France, on hiatus. No date was given for when assembly of its supercars might resume. • Mercedes-Benz on Monday will shut down its SUV factory in Alabama and its van assembly plant in South Carolina. Both will remain closed for a minimum of two weeks. Tesla yesterday revealed that it will suspend operations at its Fremont, California, vehicle assembly plant next week, on order from local officials there. Yesterday's factory closure announcements also included the U.S. assembly plants for Toyota (until April 6), Volkswagen (through March 29), Subaru (through March 29), and Hyundai (no time period specified). They join GM, Ford, Chrysler, Honda, Nissan, and Harley-Davidson, which earlier this week announced the suspension of production at their facilities. Plants/Manufacturing Bentley Bugatti Jaguar Land Rover Mercedes-Benz Volvo coronavirus

Used Volvo V70 wagon for $20 million includes New York 'New York' vanity plate

Billed as the world's most expensive Volvo wagon, a dark blue New York-based V70 is currently for sale for $20 million (and probably will be for some time). It's not the car that makes the sale special, though. It's the New York state vanity plate that reads "NEW YORK." Indeed, the ad lists a Volvo but it doesn't even mention the year, mileage or model, and in photos it's still wearing a fresh sheen of road salt. Custom plates are big business in some parts of the world. It also should be noted that the plates are of a recent design and not of the original 1970 issue. New York allows you to update vanity plates to new designs for a small fee. According to the listing on Du Pont Registry, the current owner of the plate suggested that their father buy the plate in the 1970s. This was when New York first began offering personalized plates. Surprisingly, it had not yet been claimed, allowing the family to ride around with the words "New York, New York" plastered on their government-issued vehicle identification for four decades. While the ad claims that the plate, replicas of which are sold in souvenir shops all over the Big Apple, is transferable to any vehicle, we have our doubts. Best we can tell, New York license plates don't stay with the car. The Empire State requires you to surrender your plates when you sell your car, unless you're planning on transferring them to a new car. However, the transfer can only be done, according to the New York DMV, if the names on both registrations are the same. You can't even transfer the plate to your spouse. The same rules apply for personalized plates. If you sell a vanity plated car without an immediate replacement, you can store the personalized plate with the New York DMV and then reinstate them later, but nowhere does it say the plate can be transferred. In fact, the DMV says "The new owner must apply for a new vehicle registration, vehicle plates and a title certificate. The new owner does not use the vehicle plates or the registration items of the previous owner." As our own Joe Lorio put it, "Whoever buys that Volvo might end up with just a very expensive used Volvo wagon."

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.