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Volvo Concept Universe interprets next luxury Volvo sedan

Here is Volvo’s definition of what a uber-luxury sedan should be – it’s called the Concept Universe, and the large and lush vehicle is supposed to offer a preview of what to expect from the firm’s next top-of-the line sedan. It’s all rather removed from the current S80, which suddenly looks quite dowdy.

The company says that the Concept Universe – which was unveiled in Shanghai – has been designed to spark a subconscious desire and a feeling of eternal beauty, with a form exhibiting a new human-centric design language.

The shape is very much geared towards the future, with a coupe-like roofline and contemporary, solid rear defining things, but Volvo says it also echoes the company’s proud heritage by borrowing design cues from classic models of the past.

No specific technical details with this one, so it’s left to the imagination and visuals to hold court. There’s no shortage of Scandinavian design cues on parade though, especially in the cabin.

The interior has been designed to be user-focused but refreshingly uncomplicated, being driver-orientated in the front and comfortably relaxed in the rear, Volvo says. Features available to the driver are intuitive controls and a touch-screen that approaches the hand when the driver reaches towards it.

The seating on this one is inspired by ultra-comfortable chairs. Passengers at the back – enveloped by an interior that moulds into the rear seat and becomes part of the seating environment – are embraced by light-coloured seats offering pure comfort.

Displaying classic forms, materials and textures, all used with a twist to create a special contemporary luxury experience, the Concept Universe is very much a style-sampling exercise – the company is eager to hear what the most demanding Chinese customers think of this luxurious concept, ahead of taking notes from its European and American customer base. Well, China is very much the “home” market now, so it’s no surprise potential customers there get first dibs on exploring the new bits being bandied with this one.

In Shanghai, Volvo also announced that it is developing an all-new platform architecture called SPA (Scaled Platform Architecture) for its next generation of cars. When the next luxury sedan arrives in a few years, it will be among the first Volvos built on the SPA; the platform will eventually find its way on to all the company’s large and mid-size cars.

Gallery after the jump.
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Volvo S60 – accessory packages galore for the new boy

It’s already comprehensively equipped, the just launched second-generation Volvo S60 is, but if you think you’d like to personalise it further, well, here’s some lovely news – there’s a host of accessory packages you can strap on to it to make it even Sweder (okay, that’s a bad one).

There’s a skid plate for the front bumper to be had, as well as a deco frame. You can have a skid plate too at the back, and replace the standard exhaust tip with a rectangular end pipe.


Click to enlarge

Elsewhere, there are optional sports pedals, side scuff plates and a boot lid spoiler in the dress up list, and for infotainment and electronic assist gadgetry the list is made up of a multimedia RSE system and RTI navigation system in addition to a rear park assist camera and front blind view camera, the last only able to be installed to the car with 7-inch screen already fitted.

Update:The pricing list for the accessories package as issued originally by Volvo Car Malaysia has been revised (April 25), as in the graphic above – there were some errors in the initial list released, which have been corrected. The offer still runs until May 15; do check with your local Volvo dealer for more details.

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Volvo S60 launched locally – RM348k for T6, RM288k for T5

It’s tagged as the sportiest Volvo ever launched in Malaysia, and it’s here – Volvo Car Malaysia today introduced the all-new second-generation S60, and to get things going the model is available in two CBU variant forms, these being the 3.0 T6 AWD (all-wheel drive) and 2.0 T5.

The T6 AWD is equipped with a 3.0 litre inline six-cylinder twin-scroll turbocharged engine that offers 304 hp at 5,400 rpm and 440 Nm of torque from 2,100 to 4,200 rpm. Volvo’s most powerful six-cylinder is coupled with Instant Traction AWD and mated to a second-generation six-speed automatic Geartronic transmission, and performance specs include a 0-100 kph sprint time of 6.5 seconds and a 250 kph top speed.

As for the T5, it wears a 2.0 litre four-cylinder turbo mill, here mated to a six-speed Powershift gearbox. Figures include a 240 hp at 5,500 rpm output and 320 Nm of torque at 1,800 to 5,000 rpm as well as a 0-100 kph time of 7.5 seconds. We tested this one sometime back during a drive preview of the car, covered in Danny’s comprehensive report.

The S60 T6 comes with a self-adjusting Four-C (Continuously Controlled Chassis Concept) chassis with three settings – Comfort for cruising, Sport for those naughty moments and Advance to increase driving dynamics. At the heart of Four-C is Volvo’s semi-active suspension with continuously controlled Monroe-Öhlins shock absorbers.

The T5 has a Dynamic chassis as standard, but both variants boast improved steering, stiffer springs and bushes as well as more damping than any previous model. Both versions also feature brake energy regeneration.

The Dynamic Stability and Traction Control (DSTC) now features Advanced Stability Control and Traction Torque Vectoring as part of the kit. The ASC anti-skid feature makes it possible to identify skidding tendencies at a very early stage, thus improving handling and allowing for rapid avoidance manoeuvres.

Meanwhile, Corner Traction Control by Torque Vectoring balances the torque between the front wheels during acceleration while cornering – the torque is distributed from a spinning inner wheel to reduce understeer and increase traction.

Safety-wise, the S60 is every inch a Volvo, with more safety components than any brand in its segment. The piece de resistance is the groundbreaking Pedestrian Detection with full auto brake feature.

A world’s first, the system detects pedestrians who walk onto the road in front of the car and warns the driver. If there’s no intervention from the driver, the system automatically applies full braking power. Pedestrian Detection – working in tandem with City Safety – can avoid a collision with a pedestrian at speeds of up to 35 kph.

Now, Pedestrian Safety may be the cherry on the cake, but there’s the usual host of active preventive safety kit to be found on the new ‘un, and besides Blind Spot Information System (BLIS), there’s Collision Warning with Auto Brake (CWAB), which warns and automatically brakes if the car risks hitting another vehicle from behind.

Then there’s Driver Alert Control (DAC), which detects and alerts tired and distracted drivers and Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) with Queue Assist, a radar-based adaptive cruise control system which automatically maintains a set gap to the vehicle in front. It’s operable up to 200 kph with repeated speeding up or slowing down, including speeds below 30 kph.

The T6 gets an additional feature, Lane Departure Warning, which alerts the driver if the car runs across the lane markers without the turn indicator being used. As for wheels, the T5 comes with five-spoke 17-inch Balder design alloys, while the T6 wears 18-inch Sleipner seven-spoke ones.

Inside the new S60, you’ll find a new infotainment system called the Volvo Sensus, which allows the driver to get up close and personal with high-tech features without having to read the owner’s manual (always a welcome thing, no?). Sensus presents information from the audio unit, navigation system and other functions on a 7-inch colour screen installed high in the centre console and is accessible via steering-wheel controls.

The T6 also boasts a Premium Sound system, replete with a class-D digital 5 x 130 watt amplifier, Dolby Digital (in combination with Dolby Pro Logic II Surround), the award-winning MultEQ from Audyssey Laboratories and 12 loudspeakers.

A whole palette of exterior colours (15 in all, based on the listing) as well as seven leather interior combinations are available for the S60 T5 and T6, with two brand new shades, Vibrant Copper and Flamenco Red, in the mix. The T6 is priced at RM348,000 while the T5 sells for RM288,000 (both prices on-the-road, without insurance).

For more information, visit the Volvo Car Malaysia website.

Live gallery of launch pix after the jump.
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Volvo S60 “Naughty Level 4″ Teaser Videos

Volvo Cars Malaysia have uploaded a few teaser videos for the upcoming Volvo S60 onto their Youtube channel. The videos feature a hot red Volvo S60 in some pretty impressive precision driving. Enjoy the videos (1 above, the rest after the jump), and we’ll get back to you with a launch report from the Volvo S60′s launch happening tomorrow.
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VIDEO: Volvo S60 Street Art Painting Time Lapse

Volvo produced this very cool video to promote the new Volvo S60 as part of the Volvo Art Session series. Basically, 10 street artists (C-line, Yummy Industries, Daim, Pius Portmann, Donovan & Onur, Blackyard, Nevercrew, Michel FR, Sukibamboo and Wes21) spent 5 days painting a few designs on a canvas made of a completely snow white Volvo S60 against a plain white background.

A few different designs were painted over the car, and the entire process over the whole 5 days is presented in this time lapse video. Enjoy! :)

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Volvo to invest $10 billion and build cars in Chengdu, targets 20% of China’s premium segment in 2015

Volvo, which is now owned by Chinese carmaker Geely, has revealed its ambitious plans in China, which is now the world’s largest and most promising market. The Swedish brand will allocate $10 billion in investments over the next 5 years to achieve 20% market share in China’s luxury car segment in 2015.

To make one in five premium brand cars in China a Volvo, the Swedes need to sell 200,000 vehicles in China by 2015, compared to just 39,000 sold in 2010. Volvo also has plans to expand its dealer network to 220 by 2015 from the current 106.

To achieve that goal, Volvo will open a new plant in the southwest city of Chengdu in 2013. The facility will include assembly, engine and transmission plants, and will be sitting next to a Geely factory. The Chengdu plant will also house Volvo’s new centres for research, parts procurement and sales in western China. Volvo is also looking at having another factory in Daqing, northeast China.

“That’s one of the benefits which we have here being a Chinese company and enjoying most of the benefits of labour,” Volvo CEO Stefan Jacoby told CNN. “Geely is a manufacturer offering cars for the lower-end of the auto industry and Volvo is definitely a premium and a luxury brand at the upscale segment of the auto industry. We have no intention to bundle this or to combine this,” assured the ex-head of VW America.

His employers sang in the same tune. “We continue to uphold our principle of Geely is Geely and Volvo is Volvo,” Geely board chairman Li Shufu said. The company also assured that its new plants will not affect operations and employment in Europe, so Chinese output is likely to be just for local consumption.

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Volvo V60 is the world’s first diesel plug-in hybrid

Diesel loving Europe hasn’t embraced the hybrid car in a big way, not when modern oil burners are as frugal without the aid of batteries. So how about a plug-in diesel hybrid? Wouldn’t that be the ultimate in performance (in EV terms) and efficiency? Meet Volvo’s V60 diesel plug-in hybrid, a world’s first that will debut in Geneva.

The fruit of co-operation between Volvo Cars and Swedish energy supplier Vattenfall, this production-ready V60 combines the best qualities of electric and diesel power. It will hit the market in 2012. Headline figures include a fully electric range of up to 50 km, C02 emissions averaging at just 49 g/km (current small car benchmark is around 100 g/km) and a combined output of 215 + 70 horsepower, 440 + 200 Nm of torque and 0-100 km/h in just 6.9 seconds.

The front wheels of the V60 will be driven by a five-cylinder 2.4-litre D5 engine with 215 hp/440 Nm, while the rear axle features ERAD (Electric Rear Axle Drive, an electric motor) with 70 hp/200 Nm. ERAD is powered by a 12 kWh lithium-ion battery pack. The car features a six-speed automatic gearbox.

The plug-in hybrid can be charged via a regular household electricity socket at home or elsewhere. A full 10A charge takes 4.5 hours. The time is shortened to 3 hours with 16A, while a charge in a 6A socket takes 7.5 hours.

The driver chooses the preferred driving mode via buttons on the instrument panel: Pure, Hybrid and Power. In Pure the V60 runs only on its electric motor as much as possible. Hybrid is the default mode when the car is started. The engine and electric motor interact to provide the best balance between required performance and low emissions.

In the EU combined cycle, this car is rated at 53.1 km/l and the range is nearly 1,200 km. Volvo says that fuel cost will be one third of a normal V60. In Power mode, both engine and motor go all out for the best acceleration.

Using the car setup menu, the driver can key in the planned route’s distance (short, medium or long). The control system calculates the balance between diesel and electric power to obtain the lowest possible CO2 emissions for the given distance. The driver can also switch off hybrid functions to save battery juice for later use, a full city route for instance.

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Second Generation Volvo S60 2.0T Test Drive Review

I still remember the day when I first set eyes on the original Volvo S60 – a black T5 with those gorgeous multi-spoke rims. As with most young men, Volvo wasn’t a brand that I had lust for (I was attracted to the allure of the four rings then), but the turbocharged S60 with 250 horses was a different kind of beast. Actually, the so called ‘Revolvolution’ started with the S80 before that, but the more compact S60 wore those shoulders better. Sexy, almost.

That was a full decade ago. They took their time but Gothenburg has finally given the world a new S60. Like how the original attempted to change people’s views of the brand, the new S60′s mission is to change one’s perception that Volvo’s are dull to drive. This car is the most sporting Volvo has ever made. Heard that before? We’ll find out if it truly is, but one thing is for certain – this S60 looks the part.

Continue reading the report after the jump.
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Volvo S60 to be launched in March – CBU T6 for RM350k

As we’ve told you before, the all new Volvo S60 is coming to town, and now we know that it will be officially launched next month (March 2011). Typical for Volvo Car Malaysia, new models initially arrive as a top-spec CBU, before local assembly kicks in to offer smaller engines and more affordable pricetags.

The same goes for the S60, which will be available at launch in T6 and T5 guises. Local assembly is scheduled to start in the third quarter of this year, and cars that roll out of Shah Alam will likely come with Volvo’s turbocharged direct injection 1.6-litre GTDi engine. This downsized motor will be badged T3 or T4. Bear in mind that in Volvo’s new naming scheme, the number after the T doesn’t denote the cylinder count – the bigger the number, the higher it sits in the particular family.

The T6 is powered by a 3.0L in-line six turbo engine with 304 hp and 440 Nm of torque from 2,100 to 4,200 rpm. This all aluminium engine is paired to a six-speed Geartronic auto. The T5 meanwhile is a 2.0L four-pot turbo model with 203 hp and 300 Nm (overboost to 320 Nm). The T6 comes with Volvo’s self adjusting FOUR-C active chassis. For the new S60, Volvo has two suspension settings – Dynamic and Comfort, with the difference in shock absorbers and anti-roll bar thickness – and Malaysia will get Dynamic.

Both cars are fully loaded CBUs and safety kit includes Pedestrian Detection with full auto brake, City Safety, Rollover Protection System, Collision Warning with Auto Brake, Driver Alert Control, Blind Spot Info System (BLIS) and Advanced Stability Control. Full specs will be revealed at the launch.

Estimated pricing is RM350k for the T6 and RM290k for the T5.

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Volvo V60 Plug-In Hybrid to debut in Geneva

Volvo will unveil its V60 Plug-in Hybrid at the Geneva Motor Show in March, and says that the debutant is virtually production-ready. Developed in close cooperation with Swedish energy supplier Vattenfall, the vehicle is set to make its market debut in 2012.

The company adds that it will be the first manufacturer to go on the market with a hybrid featuring a turbodiesel pot driving the front wheels and an electric powertrain drivng the rear.

A D5 five-cylinder 2.4 litre turbodiesel, offering 215 hp and a maximum torque of 440 Nm, works the front rubbers of the V60 Plug-In Hybrid, while at the back zip is provided by an Electric Rear Axle Drive (ERAD) system, in the form of an 52 kW electric motor and 12 kW lithium-ion battery pack combination.

The sports wagon, which will ship with a six-speed automatic transmission, will be able to go for up to 50 km on pure electricity.

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