1995 Volvo 850 No Reserve on 2040-cars

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Volvo is preparing to abandon its alphanumerical naming system

Volvo's alphanumerical naming system is familiar, straight-forward, but tilted towards the unimaginative side of the scale. The firm will start from scratch in the coming years, and it plans to give its future models an actual name. "If you look at cars today, they all have XC, T8, AWD, double-overhead-cam — their full specifications on the rear of many cars. Now, we're talking about a new architecture, one that's born electric and all electric. I think it's good and clear to mark that this is a new beginning. That's why we're not going to have numbers and letters, an engineering type of name. We're going to give cars a name as you give a newborn child. We have a very interesting and creative discussion going on about this now," company boss Hakan Samuelsson told Auto Express. He stopped short of providing more details about where Volvo plans to take its naming system. Historically, the company has almost always used numbers, letters or a combination of the two. The first car it released was the OV 4, which stood for oppen vagn 4 cylindrar ("open car, four cylinders" in Swedish). Volvo gained a foothold in the United States thanks to the PV544, among other models. Some of its greatest hits include the P1800, 240 (and its six-cylinder-powered variant, the 260), the Bertone-designed 780, and the 850. Notable exceptions to this decades-old rule include the Amazon (also known as the 120 series) and the Duett (called PV445 in some markets). Regardless of Volvo's next approach to naming cars, the change will be a big one. It sounds like the next-generation XC90 will inaugurate this new naming system. It's expected to make its debut before the end of 2022 with a suite of surprisingly advanced semi-automated driving technology under its sheet metal. Next, the Swedish company will turn its attention to the other side of the crossover scale. It will reportedly launch an entry-level soft-roader positioned below the XC40 and developed to lure younger buyers into showrooms. We previously thought it would wear the XC20 nameplate, though that's seemingly no longer the case. Regardless, the crossover will offer an electric drivetrain and it will "very likely" be made in China, according to Samuelsson, to keep costs in check. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. 2022 Volvo C40 Recharge charging

2015 Volvo XC90 is the Swedish future

It's been months since the Concept XC Coupe debuted at the Detroit Auto Show, Volvo's last show car previewing its all-new 2015 XC90. But the production model is finally here after years of development, and it signals the future of the Swedish automaker with its Scalable Product Architecture modular platform and cutting-edge new engine family.
The 2015 XC90 carries all-new styling, but is still familiar up front, with the company's logo slashing diagonally through its prominent, upright grille. Like the concept, it carries T-Shaped LED running lights through the headlights. The company calls them the "Thor's Hammer" design, an evocative designation that we think is fantastic. Under that new front end is a choice of two quite powerful, but very efficient powertrains. The standard XC90 gets a 2.0-liter turbocharged and supercharged engine with all-wheel drive making an impressive 316 horsepower. Or if buyers want to be a little greener and more powerful, there is the XC90 Twin Engine plug-in hybrid with the same engine, albeit augmented with an electric motor to produce a staggering 400 hp.
The exterior styling is crisp, if not quite as sensual as Volvo's latest concepts, but we think the interior is the real star here, with a dashboard that looks like it came out of a Herman Miller catalog and a unique vertically oriented infotainment screen integrated into its center stack, perhaps taking a cue from Tesla. If the cabin feels as good as it looks, we think a lot of sales are going to be won inside.

Electrify Expo is an all-electrified auto show like the old days

In late July, Autoblog swung by Washington, D.C. to check out the Electrify Expo. Now in its third year of nationwide shows, the Electrify Expo calls itself “North America's largest electric vehicle festival filled with over 1 million square feet of the world's top electric brands.” At every stop, visitors can find out about, crawl around in, drive and ride just about any personal conveyance that uses a battery for propulsion. Truth be told, when the show's PR team reached out to us with an invite, we only considered going after finding out about an area showcasing battery-electric tuner cars. EV tuning is undoubtedly going to be huge—eventually—which got us curious about these early days. We figured weÂ’d brave whatever the rest of the expo was to find out whatÂ’s the equivalent of nitrous for a Tesla. See, the EV event scene is still such that one never knows if theyÂ’ll show up to a mix of science and county fairs with a few cars on display just for truth in advertising, or if theyÂ’ll show up to a parking lot with 26 cars, 10 of them locked, 10 of them homemade, and 6 guarded by promotional hires desperate to tap all your identifying info a tablet before dispensing dubious and superficial information. Which is to say, we didnÂ’t expect much. And that makes us chuffed to report: Electrify Expo is great. We hadnÂ’t been strolling the lot outside the old RFK Stadium for five minutes before thinking, “This feels like an old-school auto show!” The exclamation to that point came from a group of four who cut me off to reach the C40 Recharge in the Volvo booth, one of them exclaiming as if he were the group expert and as if his friends were deaf, “THATÂ’S THE LEAST EXPENSIVE ONE! AND ITÂ’S BEEEE-YOUUUUU-TI-FULLLLLL!” I wasnÂ’t there to judge, I was there for the enthusiasm. Automakers had built small, simple, open booths, parked cars in them, then provided visitors the kind of interactions that will do the most good for anyone wondering about or interested in an EV. We only saw two cars that were off limits, the new Volkswagen ID.Buzz and the Ford F-100 Eluminator. Volvo wouldnÂ’t let me get an espresso from their chic little trailer, either, unless I visited the EX90 Experience trailer first. Otherwise, it was a free-for-all. Tesla had a large booth full of cars. BMW had two i7s open for everyone to sit in, next to the Ford booth with that Eluminator and an unlocked Mustang Mach-E GT and F-150 Lightning showing their cooler-chest-frunk trick.