1998 Volvo V70 X/c Awd Wagon 4-door 2.4l on 2040-cars

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Russian auto boomtown grinds to halt over Ukraine sanctions

Thousands of auto workers have been furloughed and food prices are soaring as Western sanctions pummel the small Russian city of Kaluga and its flagship foreign carmakers, with more sanctions likely to come. The Kaluga region, 190 kilometers (120 miles) southwest of Moscow, says it has attracted more than 1.3 trillion roubles ($15 billion) in investment, mostly foreign, since 2006. But Western sanctions imposed in recent weeks after Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine have exacerbated lingering component shortages and halted production at two flagship car plants, Germany's Volkswagen and Sweden's Volvo. A third, the PSMA Rus plant that is a joint venture between Stellantis and Mitsubishi and employs 2,000, may halt production soon due to a lack of parts, Stellantis' chief executive said last Thursday. "It is not clear what will happen. They don't give us any concrete information," said Pavel Terpugov, a welder at the PSMA Rus plant. Terpugov said he needs twice as much money to buy groceries than before the sanctions. Analysts have forecast Russian inflation could soar to 24% this year, while the economy may shrink to 2009 levels. The United States and Europe are weighing more sanctions against Russia after Ukraine accused Russian forces of civilian killings in northern Ukraine, where a mass grave was found in Bucha, outside Kyiv. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation" and the Kremlin categorically denied any accusations related to the murder of civilians, including in Bucha. One source of hope for some in Kaluga, with its 325,000 residents, is the West may be reluctant to hurt its own companies. "Does it make sense to impose sanctions on its own plant and lose money?" said Valery Uglov, an auto mechanic at the Volkswagen plant. "Does it make sense to lose the Russian market?" "We hope to return to work as soon as possible and everyone will have confidence in the future again," Uglov said. Volkswagen, whose factory employs 4,200 people, in early March suspended operations. A spokeswoman said production remained frozen. Volvo Group, which employs over 600 people to build trucks, also suspended production. Even before the sanctions, Russian car sales had contracted from 2.8 million units from when the Volkswagen factory opened in 2007 to 1.67 million units last year, damaged by both sanctions after the 2014 annexation of Crimea and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Volvo ditches the diesel engine

Having already committed to producing nothing but electric vehicles by 2030 and being "climate neutral" by 2040, it doesn't come as a major surprise that Volvo will stop building and selling diesel-fueled vehicles next year. Way back in 2017, Volvo signaled its intention to phase out diesel engines due to rising costs of emissions technologies. Still, hearing that the very last Volvo ever to be fitted with a diesel engine will be built "a few months from now" may raise an eyebrow or two and serves as a clear reminder that in a few short years we'll be reading similar press releases about gasoline from the Swedish automaker and many others. There are two clear reasons why Volvo is ditching diesel. The first, according to Volvo Chief Executive Jim Rowan, is that electric is simply better. “Electric powertrains are our future, and superior to combustion engines: they generate less noise, less vibration, less servicing costs for our customers and zero tailpipe emissions,” says Rowan. The second reason behind the decision to depart the diesel market is similarly clear: climate change. Rowan says, "It is high time for industry and political leaders to be strong and decisive, and deliver meaningful policies and actions to fight climate change. WeÂ’re committed to doing our part and encourage our peers as well as political leaders around the globe to do theirs." Highlighting how quickly things have changed for Volvo, the automaker says that the majority of cars it sold in Europe as recently as 2019 were powered by diesel engines. Now, in the year 2023, the company says "that trend has largely inverted itself since then, driven by changing market demand, tighter emission regulations as well as our focus on electrification. The majority of our sales in Europe now consists of electrified cars, with either a fully electric or plug-in hybrid powertrain." Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Green Volvo Emissions Diesel Vehicles Electric Luxury

Volvo joins Australia's V8 Supercars series [w/video]

It was just a rumor, but now it's official, mates: Volvo will be joining the V8 Supercars series in Australia with an official team for 2014. Volvo is partnering with Garry Rogers Motorsport and its own Polestar tuning firm to create Volvo Polestar Racing.
A V8 engine will be produced by the Swedish arm of the racing effort, and will be supplied to the Garry Rogers team, which will get the whole shebang ready for the track. The outfit will be running two V8 Supercars "based on the production S60 road car." Considering that the S60 uses a range of transversely mounted engines with four, five or six cylinders (powering either the front or all four wheels) while the new race car will employ a V8 sending about 650 horsepower to the rear wheels, make that very loosely based on the production S60...
Volvo claims this is the first factory-backed entry in the V8 Supercars series from a luxury brand. We should note, though, that Mercedes-Benz is represented in the series with an E-Class sedan, but that outfit isn't quite an official entry from the car's German parents. In any case, you're encouraged to watch the teaser video and read the press release below for all the details.