In 2003, Volvo presented the VCC (Versatility Concept Car) during the Geneva Motor Show. This design study was used to prove that the Swedish automaker is able to make big (beautiful) cars for the supreme market without any negotiation in its core values of safety, quality, and environment.

During the last five years there were no clues that Volvo is going to advance from that perception, but latest info from Teknikens Värld, a Swedish magazine, demonstrates that Volvo is certainly working on a new model, supposedly dubbed Volvo V100, that will probably be released in 2010 or 2011. Most likely it will be above S80 and XC90 and here’s a rendering on how it may look.

Ladies and gentlemen it’s official. We no longer need to speculate and listen to rumors about the new Volvo XC60, because the Swedish car manufacturer announced they will show it off during Geneva Motor Show starting March 4th. Can you remember the first Volvo XC60 spy shots we’ve told you about last month?

I’m not sure if you’re as excited as I am with XC60, but all those lines and the beauty mixed with the sporty looks make me believe that this is going to be a success for Volvo. Do you like it?

During Detroit 2008, Volvo presented their latest idea of a SUV. XC60 was still a concept but I can tell you that it’s going to materialize into something that you can touch. At Geneva this year, in March, Volvo is going to make it official. This is going to be the most popular Volvo SUV from what I’ve heard, and by the time we can put our hands on it, here are the first spy shots of the new Volvo XC60.

The car will come with a DOHC 3.2 liter inline-6 derived engine, comes with standard front wheel drive but gives the option of all wheel drive, goes on sale late fall this year in Europe and early 2009 in the US.

The main competitors are BMW X3, Mercedes-Benz GLK and Acura RDX. Here are two more pictures.

AutoExpress

For the last two days I’ve heard a lot of things about the new Volvo XC90. AutoMotorSport in Sweden announced yesterday that the second generation XC90 is no longer under development though Volvo plans to launch it before the end of 2009. I knew there’s something fishy so I waited to see what are the responses to such news, and they it didn’t took long to have them.

Apparently Volvo replied to AMS Sweden, that the next generation XC90 has not been canceled and that they are working on a facelift right now. However they didn’t include any dates in their response so we’ll just have to assume that it will use a Ford platform and unless they will bring lower fuel consumption and a hybrid version (they didn’t mention all these) they’d better not launch anything.

I will keep you updated but until then here is how the next gen Volvo XC90 would look like.

AutoMotorSport

The first time I saw the Volvo’s C30 I knew it’s a car designed for young people like me that don’t have kids or a wife. However, the Swedish car manufacturer has a nice addition. They confirmed with our friends from World Car Fans that a C30 sportback / wagon that is very similar with a five-door hatchback. The name was not discussed but we can only take a guess here. How about V30 or C50?We’ll call it Volvo C30 Wagon because the name was not yet discussed so we can’t do anything more than assume it could be V30 or C50 when they do. It’s coming out on the Mazda 3 platform, and though many consider it an Audi A3 Sportback competitor I think the A3 has a design advantage with better shapes. Here is a rendered image of the C30 wagon. Waiting for your comments below.

via WorldCarFans

Besides the driver skill there are quite a few other ingredients needed before drifting can be achieved with a SUV. Building on the success of 2006 whereby Gatebil built a 634 bhp E90 3 series BMW taxi, they have come up with the perfect recipe once again for another bizarre project. Well the first ingredient is definitely a very large 7 seater SUV in which case the Volvo XC90 fully qualifies this criterion. Remove all the 4×4 functionality to leave it rear wheel drive. Slap in a huge American V8 motor caple of pushing out 787 bhp with 1010 NM of torque. Then lower the suspension and add 22 inch wheels. And voilà, the perfect SUV drift machine and probably the fastest taxi in the world as well.

Source : Gatebil

Shortly after releasing info about the new C30, Volvo showed some artists drawings of the concepts slated to appear at the 2006 SEMA show. Those 3 drawings showed some creative thinking and the potential for some serious performance. The reality seems to live up to those drawings. Volvo has jsut released a whole host of pics of all 3 beasts. Interestingly, the IPD model (which I expected to be the most real) is the most radical, sporting NOS bottles, tuner sized speaker bank and gullwing doors. The Evolve machine is most definately this most intriguing to me now that I’ve seen the pics. This yellow monster looks ready to hit the track and you can bet that we’ll see it in action in some series next year. I think this is a clear indication of the direction Volvo is planning to take with the C30.

carry on reading

If you’re under 40, chances are you haven’t ever craved a Volvo. Well, be prepared to crave. With the 2008 Volvo C30, Volvos will no longer only be bought by those who value practicality, safety and understated versatility.

Volvo’s marketing boffins are claiming the C30 is a sport coupe that will appeal to couples aged 25-35 who are yet to breed, or the over-50s whose children have fled the nest. Moreover, they reckon that 75 percent of customers will be new to the Volvo brand. This Volvo seeks to steer trendy, affluent urbanites away from Audi TTs, Mini Coopers and Volkswagen GTIs, and it’s priced to do so, starting around $23,000 (R160 000).

(more…)