Volvo V70 on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Volvo won't go after S-Class, 7 Series market

Volvo vice president of powertrain engineering, Derek Crabb, recently said that the Swedish automaker is developing smaller and smarter powertrain options that will "turn V8s into dinosaurs" - a statement that could have been our first indication that Volvo is no longer looking to create a luxury flagship sedan to take on German land yachts like the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Audi A8 and BMW 7 Series. Now Automotive News seems to be backing this up after speaking with CEO Hakan Samuelsson, who said that a big sedan wouldn't fit the brand's green image and, more importantly, might not even be a car that its customers would even consider.
Rather than trying to compete in a small, established market against rear-drive, 12-cylinder sedans, Volvo is looking at the emerging, higher-volume premium small car segment to take on its German rivals with the all-new Volvo V40 (shown above). Not wanting to abandon the big-vehicle segment altogether, a next-generation XC90 is due out within the next couple years (and was spotted in some recent spy shots), and it will ride on the new Scalable Platform Architecture (SPA), which will be shared with the new S80 according to the AN article.

Junkyard Gem: 1982 Volvo 244 DL

Because it was sold in the United States for so many years — 19 model years, to be exact — and won the hearts of so many American drivers with its reliability and safety, sufficient examples of the Volvo 200 Series remain in service that they continue to show up in self-service car graveyards nearly 30 years after the last ones left the showroom. We saw a low-mile Richelieu Red 1983 Volvo 244 DL in a Denver-area yard last year, and now I've found a near-identical 1982 244 DL in another yard located between Denver and Cheyenne. Volvo went through several variations in the naming scheme for these cars between 1975 and 1993; during the first half of the 1980s, the 240 was badged using just the trim level. That makes this car a 1982 Volvo DL, the cheapest trim level available at the time. By now, though, everyone who knows old Volvos uses the three-number system of the 1970s, with the second digit indicating the number of engine cylinders and the third digit representing the number of doors. I'll be using the 244 designation here. This car came from the factory with a fuel-injected 2.1-liter SOHC straight-four rated at 112 horsepower. This car has the base four-on-the-floor manual transmission with an overdrive selected via the switch on the shift knob. If you wanted an automatic transmission, you had to pay an extra $325 (just over a thousand bucks in 2022 money). Later in the decade, a five-speed manual became available on the 240. Most 240s rack up better than 200,000 miles during their careers (and I've seen quite a few that made it past 300,000), but this car didn't reach that figure. This car still has its original AM/FM/cassette radio, which would have cost serious money in 1982. The MSRP on this car was $10,260, or about $31,800 in 2022 dollars. The two-door version went for $9,785 ($30,330 now). You could get a new 1982 Buick LeSabre Limited sedan for $9,331, and it was much roomier and more powerful than the VolvoÂ… but not as good in a crash. There's very little rust on this car, and the only serious body damage is this dented passenger-side door. The rodent nesting detritus under the hood and the lack of wear on the seat fabric suggests that it got parked for good a decade or three back. Perhaps it would have been rescued and revived in the rustier parts of the continent, but there's a glut of restorable 244s and a shortage of Volvo enthusiasts in the Denver area. This content is hosted by a third party.

Volvo: Tesla's Autopilot is just a 'wannabe'

Using the words "unsupervised wannabe" in an interview with The Verge, Volvo's Trent Victor says the Tesla Autopilot is "giving the impression it's doing more than it is." According to Victor, Tesla's self-driving tech is merely appearing to be autonomous because, with the Tesla system, the driver has to be fully alert all the time, ready to regain control. Tesla says its system is Level 2 autonomous, although some experts regard it as Level 3, which means it takes over safety-critical functions from the driver. Volvo says it pays more attention to actual crash avoidance, and that its Drive Me system is Level 4 autonomous, meaning that in the event of a hazardous situation the vehicle will handle the appropriate procedures and bring itself to a halt in a safe fashion. There will be no need for the driver to take action, which is important in case the driver has been incapacitated while the Drive Me autopilot has been controlling the car. Another thing with the Volvo setup is that it monitors the road in case of a conflict situation, or someone suddenly appearing in front of the car, be it a pedestrian or a runaway child. Tesla has never said that its Autopilot is anything other than a beta version under trial usage. It costs $2,500 when you purchase your Model 2 or X, or $3,000 as a add-on once you've taken delivery. The company also just announced that it would offer Autopilot for free as part of a one-month trial. Tesla declined to comment on Volvo's comment. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. News Source: The VergeImage Credit: AOL Green Tesla Volvo Technology Autonomous Vehicles Electric Future Vehicles Tesla Autopilot volvo drive me