95 Volvo 960! 1-owner! Full Service Records! Heated Seats! 96k Miles! Near Mint! on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Honda Civic, Volvo XC90 named 2016 North American Car and Truck/Utility of the Year

It's a great day to be the Honda Civic and Volvo XC90. These cars are the official 2016 North American Car and Truck/Utility of the Year, with the awards just having been announced at the Detroit Auto Show. The Civic is a great car, and a fantastic entry in the compact class. To us, its win isn't a surprise, though our enthusiast hearts were really rooting for the runner-up Mazda MX-5 Miata. The new Chevy Malibu was also a finalist for this year's award. As for the Truck/Utility award, we wholeheartedly agree with the Volvo XC90 choice. It's a fantastic-looking, premium, tech-forward vehicle, and represents a huge step forward for Volvo here in the United States. But its runners-up, the Nissan Titan XD and Honda Pilot, are also great choices, bringing a lot of stiff competition to some pretty important segments. Here's how the jury voted: Car of the Year Honda Civic – 203 points Chevy Malibu – 181 points Mazda MX-5 Miata – 146 points Truck/Utility of the Year Volvo XC90 – 310 points Honda Pilot – 111 points Nissan Titan XD – 109 points

Volvo vows to charge subscriptions only for major updates

Volvo Cars Chief Operating Officer Bjorn Annwall   BMW veered into a public-relations mess this year when it started charging car owners monthly subscription fees to warm their behinds. Volvo Car won’t be making similar moves. “If you are to charge for software updates, it must be a step change in consumer benefit,” VolvoÂ’s Chief Operating Officer Bjorn Annwall said in an interview this month. “We will not ask people who have bought a car for 1 million kronor ($96,500) to pay another 10 kronor to get extra heat in the seat.” While BMW will no doubt have other manufacturers follow in its footsteps — Mercedes-Benz recently started asking buyers of its EQ electric vehicles to fork over $1,200 a year to unlock quicker acceleration, for example — the auto world has started to second-guess just how much money there is to be made from the rise of software within their hardware-intensive business. In a 91-page deep dive into the topic last month, analysts at UBS pegged the total addressable market at $700 billion by 2030. ThatÂ’s no pittance, but pales in comparison to the $2 trillion opportunity they anticipated previously. Annwall sees Volvo generating little additional revenue from software until mid-decade. Only if major upgrades become available — a self-driving mode, for example — would Volvo charge extra. “You donÂ’t have to hold the steering wheel — now thatÂ’s a step change in user benefit.” Annwall was speaking at the opening of VolvoÂ’s new tech hub in Stockholm, where the manufacturer builds software for selling and marketing cars online. The company, which last month unveiled a battery-powered sport utility vehicle to succeed its gasoline-era flagship, intends to cease making combustion cars by the end of the decade. ItÂ’s going to be an uphill push: EVs made up just under a fifth of the companyÂ’s shipments last month. Bloomberg spoke with Annwall about VolvoÂ’s tech efforts, the software issues that have plagued some of its competitors and the ongoing supply-chain issues holding back the industry. Here are highlights from the conversation, which have been edited for length and clarity: Large automakers including Volkswagen have had problems with their car software. Have you experienced similar obstacles? I wonÂ’t hide the fact that we have had some problems with our software in the car as well. But weÂ’ve been good at correcting them fairly quickly.

First production Volvo S60 Polestar shown off

With the Volvo S60 Polestar going on sale in Australia this June, Volvo has finally released images and specs for the production version of the performance sedan. While no official build number has been announced, one image of the car's steering wheel shows a serial number plaque that says "No. 000/100" indicating that production will likely be limited to just 100 units in Australia. The press release states that the Australia run of Polestar-tuned S60s is a "pilot project" and that other potential markets are "under investigation."
Although it looks very similar to the S60 Polestar Concept we first saw at the LA Auto Show last year, the production version of the car sports a few changes. Visually, the front and rear fascias have been slightly modified from the concept car, as have the matte-black wheels. Inside, we see a different steering wheel that adds the aforementioned build sequence plaque but loses the suede leather accents, and there is also a sportier looking shift lever with a chrome handle that features a Polestar logo.
As for performance figures, rather than the 508-horsepower of the S60 Polestar Concept, the production version will be limited to 350 hp and more than 368 pound-feet of torque, which is still an improvement of about 25 hp and at least 14 lb-ft over a 2013 S60 R-Design. Polestar also tuned the six-speed automatic transmission and Haldex all-wheel-drive system for optimal performance leading to a top speed of 155 miles per hour and a 0-62 mph time of 4.9 seconds. The production S60 Polestar will still get suspension, brake and aerodynamic upgrades.