2004 Volvo S60 2.5 Turbo on 2040-cars

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Volvo 850 T5 R pickup conversion is ready for a cool yule

There are plenty of ways to get your holiday tree home from the farm, but few are so classy as this Volvo 850 ute. Built in Sweden and shipped to Belgium, the car wears all of the necessary kit to pass as a 850R, and with a turbocharged 2.3-liter five cylinder under the hood, this creation should have no trouble dashing through the snow. Looks like a mighty fine use of an otherwise derelict Volvo wagon to us, though we have to imagine all that torque steer and no weight over the aft would make for all sorts of silliness once the roads went slick.
Still, if it were our Sawzall, we'd be happier with the keys to a certain BMW M5 utility in our pocket. Or, you know, the 3 Series conversion BMW whipped up not too long ago. You can head over to Autofans.be for a closer look at the 850 ute.

Volvo's $2.9 billion stock IPO is a key test in shift to EVs

Volvo Car AB is looking to raise 25 billion kronor ($2.9 billion) in a Stockholm initial public offering in a test for automakers amid the transition to electric vehicles. The Swedish carmaker, owned by China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., is offering shares at 53 kronor to 68 kronor each (about $6-$8), according to a statement Monday.  The deal values Volvo Cars at as much as $23 billion, 11 years after the Chinese firm bought the business from Ford Motor Co. for $1.8 billion. The IPO is set to be EuropeÂ’s largest since January, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The carmaker, with an ambitious plan to only sell full electric cars by 2030, plans to use the funds to add carmaking capacity so it can nearly double annual sales to more than 1.2 million vehicles. Volvo Cars also plans to construct a battery plant in Europe. “We have a very clear strategy to be an electric company in 2030 and weÂ’ve been on that journey for some years now,” Volvo Cars CEO Hakan Samuelsson said in an interview. “With this, of course, we can secure that transformation, because of course, itÂ’s not free of charge.” VolvoÂ’s projected market capitalization of about $20 billion compares to roughly $65 billion for BMW AG, while the German premium carmaker produces more than 2 million vehicles versus Volvo CarsÂ’ 660,000 last year. Newer entrants to the industry such as ChinaÂ’s Nio Inc. and Tesla Inc. have seen their share prices surge past traditional manufacturers even as they sell only a fraction of the number of vehicles. The IPO also comes less than a month after electric-vehicle maker Polestar, controlled by Volvo Cars and Geely, said it will go public in New York via a blank-check merger. The deal implies an enterprise value of $20 billion for the startup, with Volvo Cars expecting to hold a 50% stake in Polestar after it lists. While the century-old Swedish industry stalwart and Polestar have similar valuations, 4-year-old Polestar has a target of delivering only about 29,000 cars this year. Geely previously attempted to take Volvo Cars public in 2018, but called off the listing after investors were said to balk at its valuation expectations of as much as $30 billion.  A group of pension funds and institutional investors have committed to buying 6.4 billion kronor worth of shares in the IPO. The offering of as much as 21% of Volvo Cars runs through Oct. 27, and the shares are set to start trading in Stockholm on Oct. 28. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

These are the cars with the best and worst depreciation after 5 years

The average new vehicle sold in America loses nearly half of its initial value after five years of ownership. No surprise there; we all expect that shiny new car to start depreciating as soon as we drive it off the lot. But some vehicles lose value a lot faster than others. According to data provided by iSeeCars.com, trucks and truck-based sport utility vehicles generally hold their value better than other vehicle types, with the Jeep Wrangler — in both four-door Unlimited and standard two-door styles — and Toyota Tacoma sitting at the head of the pack. The Jeep Wrangler Unlimited's average five-year depreciation of 30.9% equals a loss in value of $12,168. That makes Jeep's four-door off-roader the best overall pick for buyers looking to minimize depreciation. The Toyota Tacoma's 32.4% loss in initial value means it loses just $10,496. The smaller dollar amount — the least amount of money lost after five years — indicates that Tacoma buyers pay less than Wrangler Unlimited buyers, on average, when they initially buy the vehicle. The standard two-door Jeep Wrangler is third on the list, depreciating 32.8% after five years and losing $10,824. Click here for a full list of the top 10 vehicles with the least depreciation over five years. On the other side of the depreciation coin, luxury sedans tend to plummet in value at a much faster rate than other vehicle types. The BMW 7 Series leads the losers with a 72.6% drop in value after five years, which equals an alarming $73,686. BMW's slightly smaller 5 Series is next, depreciating 70.1%, or $47,038, over the same period. Number three on the biggest losers list is the Nissan Leaf, the only electric vehicle to appear in the bottom 10. The electric hatchback matches the 5 Series with a 70.1% drop in value, but since it's a much cheaper vehicle, that percentage equals a much smaller $23,470 loss. Click here for a full list of the top 10 vehicles with the most depreciation over five years.