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Heico Sportiv new performance package for Volvo S60

August 28, 2010 at 9:02 pm By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Cars, International News, Volvo

Heico Sportiv has unveiled its tuning package for the Volvo S60. The tuning company treats S60 to an increase in power along with mild styling updates.

On the engine front, revisions come in the form of an upgraded ECU, with a plug-and-play installation. This generates an extra 47hp from the 2.0T engine and an additional 50Nm of torque, giving you a respectable 293hp and 350Nm of pulling power.

Power is boosted to 326hp in the T6 model, which also gains an increase in torque of 460Nm. This allows the S60 to reach the century mark in 5.8 seconds, going on to an electronically limited top speed of 250km/h.

Exterior changes to the car include a new front spoiler, a revised rear skirt, quad outlet exhaust system, 18 to 20 inch Sport wheels, aluminum pedals and aluminum gear shift knob. Official market launch for the package will be September the 18th, 2010.

With upgrades like these, you’d think twice before stereotyping a Volvo driver. Look after the jump for hi res pictures.
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Volvo Raya promo offers free equipment, low interest rates

August 12, 2010 at 7:09 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, Local News, Volvo

Volvo Car Malaysia is having a Hari Raya promotion that offers customers low interest rates and free equipment. They are also giving 20% discount on accessories for new purchases.

For the Volvo S80 and the XC90 2.5T, buyers will get a free Rear Seat Entertainment system worth RM8,461. Embedded in both front seat headrests, this all-in-one entertainment system allows rear-seat occupants to watch movies or play games independent of what the main ICE system is doing. For the S40 and V50 2.0 Powershift, Volvo offers a Portable Navigation System (by Garmin) worth RM3,208.

For the list of accessories on offer or to find out more about the hire-purchase rate, head to your local Volvo dealer.

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Volvo to make 7-Series and S-Class competitor?

August 5, 2010 at 4:36 pm By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Cars, Geely, International News, Volvo

Geely Boss Li Shufu mentioned just hours after the announcement of the Chinese automakers purchase of Volvo that he wants Volvo cars to compete with top end marques like BMW and Mercedes. Li attributes the Swedish brand’s struggling sales as compared to top flight automakers to the pricing of the models.

A new BMW 740i sedan and Mercedes-Benz S400 hybrid in the US retails for about $70,150 and $87,950 respectively which is more than double of Volvo’s $39,200 for its top of the range sedan, the Volvo S80. Li says Volvo need products to compete in that segment.

Speaking more on the overall progression to profitability, Li pointed out that 380,000 units had to be sold every year for Volvo to become profitable which is a far cry from the 335,000 units they sold last year, suffering a loss of $653 million. In order for Volvo to get an upper hand in the competition, they [Volvo] need to pump out more volume.

Part of the plan is also to create more awareness in the Chinese market of Volvo’s heritage of developing features such as air bags or catalytic converters. In regards to a 380,000 units every year, Li said that no decision has been made and that would require market studies, board and government approval.

He went on to say that he was happy with the Volvo buy branding it a historic opportunity and does not see any similar deals available in the near future. “It’s very difficult to find a good brand like Volvo you can buy. If Mercedes Benz wants to sell itself, I think Chinese companies would be interested”.

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Volvo Cars now officially owned by Chinese Geely!

August 3, 2010 at 7:51 pm By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Cars, China, Geely, International News, Volvo

It’s official – Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Company Limited (or Geely as its known to you and me) has completed its acquisition of the Volvo Car Corporation from Ford Motor Company. This has been done to a tune of a US$1.8 billion amount which was originally agreed upon in March 2010.

This purchase price was made out of a US$200 million note with a cash balance subject to customary purchase price adjustments at the close of the sale. Geely have now paid off the note and US$1.3 billion in cash to complete the sale. Final balance figures are expected to be finalized later this year.

On the matter of technology and manufacturing, Ford will continue to supply Volvo with powertrains, stampings and other vehicle components at differing periods. This also includes engineering support, information technology, access to tooling for common components, and other selected services for a transition period. In terms of intellectual property, agreements are currently being made to govern the use of Volvo’s intellectual property by Ford.

Former Volkswagen Chief Executive of America Stefan Jacoby, has been appointed the new President and Chief Executive of Volvo Cars. They will also retain their headquarters and manufacturing presence in Sweden and Belgium while the management will be allowed independence to execute its own business plans with direction from its new board.

An exciting step for both companies, that will no doubt see the rise of Geely as a global market player and the influx of Chinese investment into one of the top Swedish auto brands.

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Heico Sportiv reveals first pix of Volvo S60 kit

July 25, 2010 at 4:59 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Volvo

Heico Sportive has brought the new Volvo S60 T6 up to 330 horsepower, which is a sort of mild 30 horsepower increase, but 30 horses is still something that can definitely be felt. The minor increase is thanks to minor tweaks, probably a performance exhaust and perhaps a new map of sorts, but we’re just speculating as Heico hasn’t exactly unveiled in detail how they are achieving this, which is no surprise considering the S60 isn’t really properly on sale everywhere yet. Even the image above is just an artist’s impression of how Heico Sportive plans to kit out the S60, which includes a suspension upgrade as well. Very clean and nice, I like it! Look after the jump for two more illustrations from Heico.
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Geely to set up Volvo R&D centre in Jiading, Shanghai

July 11, 2010 at 11:54 pm By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Cars, International News, Volvo

After news that the EU have okay-ed the sale of Volvo to automakers Geely, comes word that the Chinese company will be setting up a research and development centre for Volvo at the Shanghai International Automobile City. Looks like the ‘technology transfer’ plans have started immediately! Rumours of Geely scouting for a possible site in China for a Volvo assembly plant still persists, and such a plant will likely be near the R&D centre.

The R&D centre will be called Geely-Volvo Research and Development Center and will be situated in an industrial park in the Jiading district of western Shanghai, which plays host to other big names like Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive Co., Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. and also automotive suppliers such as Fiat Powertrain Technologies. The Shanghai International Circuit is also located in Jiading.

Geely’s president Li Shufu said that Volvo’s biggest handicap is its economies of scale and will only start making a profit if sales hit 370,000 units a year. This number currently stands at 335,000 vehicles globally, of which 22,664 are Chinese market contributed numbers.

Source

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Volvo V60 unveiled – wagon version of the S60

July 7, 2010 at 4:29 pm By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Cars, International News, Volvo

A new model has been added to the Volvo range of cars which is the Volvo V60. Touted as being the five door wagon version of the S60, the car features sleek and a coupe-like design but is not trying to compete with the likes of the V70 and XC70.

Nevertheless it’s no shrinking violet when it comes to load carrying as the car can accommodate 430 litres with the rear seats in place. This along with the 1095 millimetre wide tailgate and fold flat passenger seats provides flexibility when loading and unloading.

Volvo will offer five petrol engines along with three diesel variants. The five petrol engines will be the T6 3.0-litre six cylinder 304hp engine, T5 2.0 four cylinder 240hp engine and the T4 and T3 1.6-litre engine that produces either 180hp or 150hp. Also in the list is a force-inducted 2.0 litre GTDi which is good for 203hp and 300Nm of torque.

Oil burners on offer are the turbo diesel D5 five cylinder 205hp engine producing 420Nm of torque and the D3 2.0 five cylinder 163hp engine that produces an equally impressive 400 Nm of torque. There will also be an economical 1.6 D DRIVe producing 115hp and 270Nm of torque. The engine will be matted to either a manual gearbox or Volvo’s six-speed automatic Geartronic transmission

The car is said to share handling dynamics with the S60 and offers a dynamic chassis as standard for the V60 in European markets while the rest of the world gets a softer, smoother touring chassis. This is backed up by driver assistance programmes such as Advanced Stability Control, Corner Traction Control, City Safety and Rollover Protection System (RPS).

Pricing for the V60 has yet to be released but expect it to come below the V70 pricetag. 50,000 V60’s will be built in their Torslanda plant in Sweden, while first deliveries are expected to be in the final quarter of 2010. Look for a picture gallery after the jump.

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EU approves sale of Volvo to Chinese carmakers, Geely

July 7, 2010 at 12:14 am By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Cars, Geely, International News, Volvo

It has been announced recently that the European Union competition regulators have approved the sale of Ford Motor Co’s Volvo, to Chinese car maker Geely Automobile Holdings and investment firm Daqing. This comes after an investigation concluded that the “deal will not significantly impede competition in Europe,” in a statement from the EU executive.

The takeover worth US$2.7 billion was originally agreed on in March and is expected to be concluded sometime during the third quarter of this year. This is said to include $900 million to bring Volvo back into the black.

There have been rumours that to do this, the Chinese carmaker will be moving production to China, where other German and Japanese manufacturers have enjoyed booming sales and profits. Naturally the company itself is resistant to the idea, but this will be futile as Volvo is one step closer to being fully owned by Geely.

Even if that doesn’t happen, the upside to this takeover would mean that Volvo tech could be seen in Geely cars, which are almost half the price of the Sweedish models, thereby providing a sales boost for Geely range of cars.

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Heico releases limited edition V70 T6 AWD R-Design

June 23, 2010 at 4:21 pm By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Cars, International News, Volvo

Famous Volvo tuner Heico Sportiv, in partnership with the Swedish marque itself, has released a special edition of the V70 T6 AWD R-Design. Only 100 of these metallic sapphire black cars will be made for the German market priced at a hefty 70,193 euros!

For that princely sum, the output from the 3.0-litre turbocharged inline-six has been increased to 325 hp from the standard 304 hp, while maximum torque gets a 20 Nm hike to 460 Nm from 2,100 to 4,200 rpm. Paired to a six-speed auto, this AWD wagon does the benchmark 0-100 sprint in just 5.9 seconds while top speed is the usual electronically limited 250 km/h. Responsible for the increased performance is a recalibrated ECU and a sport exhaust system.

Driving dynamics has been uprated with sport suspension, shock absorbers and springs. The ride is lowered by 30 mm and those big wheels you see are of 19 inches wide with 245/35 Pirelli tyres. The package also includes an extra set of original Volvo R-Design 18-inch wheels with winter tyres.

The standard R-Design package comes with colour-coded door sills and bumpers, roof spoiler, mirror casings in a matte chrome finish and chrome detailing for the fog-lamps. Heico throws in chrome exhaust tips and a special trunk emblem. Inside, Heico adds aluminum door pins and a special edition plaque to the already well specified R-Design spec.

Gallery after the jump.
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Volvo S80 Turbo Testdrive Review: a Swedish alternative?

June 18, 2010 at 9:52 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, Test Drive Reviews, Volvo

Volvo introduced to us the facelifted S80 last month, and took the chance to streamline the range for Malaysia. Gone is the imported 3.2-litre model, which leaves the 2.5T as the sole variant offered. Volvo now calls it the S80 Turbo, and the changes made are more than just skin deep – the engine has been improved, the interior updated and the skin metal has been given subtle changes. There are plenty of new toys too, all for an increase of only RM10,000.

At RM295,000, the locally assembled S80 Turbo once again appears very good value for money, especially when compared with size class rivals from Mercedes and BMW (Volvo names the 523i and E250 as rivals).

Volvo wants to be more mainstream than it currently is, but it’s never easy to break that Merc-BMW stranglehold on the Malaysian premium market, which standards and expectations are dictated by the German duo. We drove the facelifted S80 to Penang to check out Volvo’s interpretation of premium.

Continue reading the report after the jump.
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