2003 Volvo S40 4 Door Sedan on 2040-cars

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2013 Volvo C30 R-Design Polestar Limited Edition [w/video]

Last Hurrah Comes and Goes In A Hurry
It isn't very often that we drive a new car that's already out of production, but that's exactly what has happened with this 2013 Volvo C30. After just five years on the North American market, the last C30 quietly rolled off the assembly line back in December. But before that happened, Volvo decided to send its compact hatchback out on a high note with a little added performance and exclusivity courtesy of this R-Design Polestar Limited Edition model.
The term "hot hatch" is admittedly tossed around a lot these days, but the combination of an R-Design styling package coupled with a good number of extra ponies under the hood should be more than enough to put the C30 in the mix with the likes of the Volkswagen GTI and its not-too-distant cousin, the Mazdaspeed3. The chief problem with the Polestar Limited Edition, though, is that it's priced against sportier all-wheel-drive compacts like the Golf R and Subaru WRX STI, so we decided to spend a week with the Polestar to see if its exclusivity and performance are enough to make up for its higher price tag.

Volvo and Starbucks to put charging stations at coffee shops

Volvo and Starbucks are joining forces to give electric vehicle owners a more pleasant charging experience. The two companies have announced a plan to install EV charging stations at Starbucks coffee shops across several U.S. states as part of a pilot program to study the project's scalability. About 60 chargers will be installed at 15 Starbucks locations along a 1,350-mile route between Denver and Seattle, which is home to the coffee giant.  Volvo told Autoblog that the chargers will be a mix of ChargePoint DC chargers comprised of Express 250 units, capable of delivering 62.5 kW, and Express Plus units, capable of delivering up to 350 kW. All chargers will have both CHAdeMO and CCS plugs. Placed about 100 miles apart, the charger-equipped Starbucks fall within the range of most EVs, and their relative proximity should limit the amount of advanced planning one would have to do during an EV road trip. The companies plan to offer them to any drivers of electric cars. Charging fees will apply, but Volvo vehicles will get to use them either free of charge or at a discount. The locations of these chargers will show up in ChargePoint's smartphone app, or with an in-dash app on Google-equipped Volvo models. Jokes about latte-sipping Volvo drivers aside, the program opens a world of new opportunities for charging. A Volvo C40 Recharge takes about 40 minutes to replenish its batteries from 20% to 90%. Other electric cars are comparable. A coffee shop is a much more pleasant place to wait that out than a Kroger or Walmart, and as we discovered last week, EV chargers and businesses like Starbucks are banned from interstate rest areas by federal law. Add the availability of wifi and clean-ish bathrooms at most Starbucks locations, and it makes for an ideal pit stop opportunity. Besides, on a long road trip, drivers must replenish their caffeine just as cars must replenish their fuel tanks or batteries. The solution — chargers at coffee shops — is so glaringly obvious, it's a wonder why it's taken so long for a partnership like this to happen.

Volvo planning an electric sedan prototype perhaps called ES90

The Automotive News future product pipeline indicates Volvo's planning to begin production of an electric version of the S90 sedan in late 2024, with sales to begin in 2025. The car is definitely coming, and could be here on the early side. Swedish outlet Teknikens Varld (translated) got eyes on a post from Volvo's internal website celebrating the completion of a verification prototype (VP) of a car internally called the V551, publicly expected to be the ES90. Workers at Geely's Cixi Assembly Plant south of Shanghai marked the arrival of the car in a photo under a banner reading, "Volvo Cars V551 First VP Car Celebration," in front of a vehicle covered by a tarp stamped with "Confidential Top Secret." We don't know the production model will be called ES90, but the naming scheme fits if using the EX90 as a guide. Volvo applied to trademark the name, the potential hitch being that Lexus has indicated its displeasure with Volvo putting an ES model on the market since Lexus has its long-lived ES-followed-by-a-number sedan.     Volvo documents leaked online last year point to a body sized between the short- and long-wheelbase versions of the gas-powered S90 (pictured above), sitting on the same SPA2 platform as the recently introduced EX90. Dimensions come in at 196.4 inches long, 76.6 inches wide, and 60.9 inches high on a 122-inch wheelbase. This would make it four inches shorter than the current S90 long-wheelbase, the only version sold anymore, 1.7 inches wider, and 3.2 inches taller, with a wheelbase 1.5 inches longer. If this is how it turns out for production, the ES90 will be 1.5 inches shorter than the EX90 but have a wheelbase 2.5 inches longer — a chauffeur special for the Chinese market, perhaps. A 111-kWh battery pack (107 kWh usable) would be the same spec that powers the EX90, the ES90 in rear-drive trim expected to be good for nearly 600 kilometers (373 miles) on China's CLTC vehicle regimen. We need clarity on other rumored specs like a powertrain making 455 horsepower and 523 pound-feet, a curb weight of 5,511 pounds for an RWD trim and 5,732 pounds for dual-motor AWD.