2011 Volvo T5 Turbo 2.5l I5 20v Automatic Fwd Convertible Premium Keyless Entry on 2040-cars

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Ford, Volvo top 2014 EyesOn Design awards

Each year at the Detroit Auto Show, the top vehicle designs are recognized with the prestigious EyesOn Design award for production and concept vehicles. This year, the 32 EyesOn Design judges (comprised of current and former vehicle designers including Chrysler designer and SRT president Ralph Gilles, Kia designer Peter Schreyer and retired General Motors designer Wayne Cherry) handed out three awards for the Best Concept Vehicle, Best Production Vehicle and Innovative Use of Color, Graphics, and Materials.
Beating out the Mercedes C-Class and Ford F-150, the 2015 Ford Mustang was named the Best Production Vehicle as the top auto show debut at this year's Detroit show. The 2014 Volvo Concept XC Coupe took home awards as the Best Concept Vehicle and for its Innovative Use of Color, Graphics and Materials.
Considering the Volvo's primer grey hue and subtle orange accents, it was a rather surprising winner for Innovative Use of Color, Graphics, and Materials over flashier concepts like the Toyota FT-1 and our Editors' Choice top pick, the Kia GT4 Stinger. Other vehicles in the running for the concept car award include the GT4 Stinger and Audi Allroad Shooting Brake

Junkyard Gem: 1976 Volvo 244 DL

Volvo did well enough selling the PV444/544, Amazon and 140 in the United States, but it was the Volvo 200 Series that really launched Goteborg iron into the American big time. Introduced here as a 1975 model, the 200 stayed in production for nearly two full decades and remains the most instantly recognizable Swedish car ever made. Here's an early-production 244, found in a Denver-area car graveyard not long ago. The 200 Series could be considered an update of the late-1960s-vintage 140 Series, since it's essentially the same car from the A pillars back. The main difference between the two is the MacPherson strut front suspension in the 200 Series. Volvo went through several naming systems for U.S.-market 200 Series cars over the decades, with the initial one being the easiest to decipher: a three-digit number followed by a two-character trim-level designation. The first digit in the number represents the series, the second represents the number of engine cylinders and the third the number of doors. There were six-cylinder 262s, 264s and 265s sold in the United States from 1976 through 1981, powered by the same PRV V6 engine that went into the DeLorean DMC-12, so it's incorrect to refer to all 200 Series Volvos as 240s. This car is the best-selling member of the 200 family, with a four-cylinder engine and four doors. This is a fuel-injected 2.1-liter SOHC straight-four, rated at 98 horsepower and 110 pound-feet; the 1975 240s received the 2.0-liter pushrod engine from the 140. There were two transmissions available in the 1976 240s: a four-speed manual or a three-speed automatic. This car has the automatic. Even thought it's a base DL model, this car's first owner paid an extra $456 for air conditioning (about $2,580 in 2024 dollars), on top of the $500 premium for the automatic transmission ($2,829 after inflation). That pushed the cost for the car up to $7,551, or $42,717 in today's money. You could get a swanky new 1976 Buick Electra Limited four-door hardtop for just $6,852, but those sensible Volvo buyers knew it was worth paying a premium for genuine Scandinavian safety and build quality. European-market headlights were strictly forbjuden on American roads during the early Malaise Era, according to federal safety regulations, so Volvo had to install these unsightly sealed-beam rigs on their cars here.

Volvo's electric XC90 SUV to include lidar as standard equipment next year

DETROIT — Volvo Cars plans to make lidar sensors standard equipment in a new generation of its XC90 SUV next year as part of a strategy to deploy more advanced safety and automated driving technology that relies on precise images of the world around the vehicle. The decision by Volvo Cars to fold lidar sensors into the base price of its vehicle is a bet that customers will pay for the additional capability. It has been called a "watershed moment" by some in the industry. The Swedish brand, owned by China's Geely group, is taking a sharply different road from rival Tesla Inc, which has shunned lidar and radar and is focusing on just cameras and software for its automated driving systems. Self-driving car sensor startup Luminar Technologies Inc will supply Volvo Cars with its Iris lidar and Sentinel software in combination with software from Volvo in the electric XC90 SUV that will be built in South Carolina and go on sale in 2022, the companies said. The new technologies are designed to address traffic situations that often result in severe injuries and fatalities. Over time, the technology will become more capable and will increasingly intervene to prevent collisions, the companies said. "By having this hardware as standard, we can continuously improve safety features over the air and introduce advanced autonomous drive systems," Volvo Cars Chief Executive Hakan Samuelsson said in a statement. Lidar sensors, which use laser light pulses to render precise images of the environment around the car, are seen as essential by many automakers to enable obstacle detection and avoidance in advanced driving assistance systems and eventually in fully automated vehicles. Complete sensor set on on electric successor to XC90 Until now, lidar has been too costly for automakers to implement as anything other than an option that costs extra. Luminar CEO Austin Russell said the pricing for its lidar is on the order of $1,000 per unit. Volvo Cars' chief technology officer, Henrik Green, said cost is not the focus for the Swedish auto brand. While the price of the technology will come down over time as volumes grow, the rollout will accelerate use of automated services that the company can charge for. Green said subsequent vehicles will add the lidar package as standard, and that this continues Volvo Cars' history of being first to standardize many safety features, including three-point seat belts and side-impact airbags.