2009 Volvo C30 R-design on 2040-cars

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European new car sales drop nearly 8% in first half of 2019

PARIS — European car sales dropped 7.9% in June, led by bigger declines for Nissan, Volvo and Fiat Chrysler (FCA), according to industry data published on Wednesday. Registrations fell to 1.49 million cars last month from 1.62 million a year earlier across the European Union and EFTA countries, the Brussels-based Association of European Carmakers said in a statement. Calendar effects resulted in two fewer sales days in most markets, accentuating the decline. Registrations for the first half closed 3.1% lower, ACEA said. For European carmakers, weakening demand at home compounds the pressure from a sharper contraction in China and emerging markets that may yet bring more profit warnings. NissanÂ’s aging model lineup contributed to a 26.6% June sales slump while Volvo Cars, owned by ChinaÂ’s Geely, saw deliveries tumble 21.7%. Registrations also fell 13.5% last month at FCA, 10.1% at BMW, 9.6% at Volkswagen Group and 8.2% for both Mercedes parent Daimler and FranceÂ’s PSA Group. The Peugeot makerÂ’s domestic rival Renault suffered less, posting a 3.9% decline. By the Numbers BMW Chrysler Fiat Nissan Volkswagen Volvo Peugeot Renault

NACTOY announces top nine finalists for Car, Truck and Utility of the Year

Finalists for the 2024 North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year (NACTOY) Awards were announced at this year’s L.A. Auto Show. This whittles the field down to nine vehicles in total, with the winners scheduled to be announced on January 4, 2024. The finalists in their respective categories: Car category: Honda Accord, Hyundai Ioniq 6, Toyota Prius Truck category: Chevrolet Colorado, Chevrolet Silverado EV, Ford Super Duty Utility category: Genesis Electrified GV70, Kia EV9, Volvo EX30 These nine cars were chosen from a list of 25, which was previously narrowed down from a list of 52 eligible vehicles. Notable misses include the Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray, Toyota GR Corolla, GMC Canyon, Ford Ranger, Chevrolet Blazer EV, Chevrolet Equinox EV, Mazda CX-90 and Toyota Grand Highlander, among others. Jurors will now evaluate the final nine through the end of the year to determine the four winners. Autoblog Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is among the jurors. Green LA Auto Show Chevrolet Ford Genesis GM Honda Hyundai Kia Toyota Volvo Truck Crossover Hatchback SUV Electric Hybrid Luxury Off-Road Vehicles Performance Sedan

Junkyard Gem: 1984 Volvo 242 DL

Volvo had tremendous success with the iconic 200 Series cars, selling them in North America from the 1975 model year all the way through 1993 (and if you count the Volvo 140, which was the same car from the A pillars rearward, the 240's history goes back to the middle 1960s). Nearly everybody who bought 240s on our continent did so in order to be safe and/or practical, which meant that the two-door version never sold anywhere near as well as its four-door and wagon brethren. Here's one of those rare 240 coupes (technically speaking, a two-door sedan), found in a San Jose car graveyard last winter. If you're going to be a stickler about the designation of this car as a two-door sedan and not as a coupe, you'll also want to call it by the name Volvo used when it was in the showroom: the 1984 Volvo DL. However, everybody in the Volvo world now prefers the original naming system that Volvo used for the 200s back home in Sweden, where you had 2 followed by a numeral indicating the number of engine cylinders and a numeral indicating the number of doors, with the trim-level code after that. So, what we have for today's Junkyard Gem is a Volvo 242 DL, i.e., the cheapest new 240 Americans could buy in 1984. You could get a turbocharged engine from the factory in the 1984 242, but this car has the ordinary naturally-aspirated 2.3-liter straight-four, rated at 111 horsepower. It also has the four-speed manual transmission with overdrive controlled by the button in the middle of the shift knob. Nearly 230,000 miles on the clock, which is decent for any 1980s car but not spectacular by Volvo 240 standards. Many Volvo enthusiasts prefer the smooth lines of the coupe to the stodgier sedans and wagons, and this one shows signs of ownership by someone who wasn't just about listening to NPR while driving safely to the natural-foods store. Sure enough, it has aftermarket springs and a non-factory rear sway bar. I wish I'd found these parts back in 2007, when I was helping to build a V8-swapped Volvo 244 road racer. The presence of the keys in a junkyard car, however, usually indicates that it was voluntarily let go by its final owner. Perhaps it was a dealership trade-in that proved to be impossible to sell due to a combination of three pedals, high miles, and lack of truck-shaped body. The interior looks like it might have been tolerable before it reached this place.