The Volvo XC70 is a spacious family car with off-road elements but power and sporty-ness do not usually contribute to its bag of natural attributes. To eleviate this lack of grunt the company is looking to introduce in the very near future (autumn 2008) a T6 engine: straight six cylinders with three litre petrol and turbo compressors at 281hp.

This should be a wise and practical decision given that the T6 is already included in the “sister” V70 and on the S80, and it would easily substitute the current 3.2litre with 235hp. According to the magazine AutoWeek, the T6 version would be positioned at the top of the XC70 range, leaving little hope for whoever was expecting nothing less than the V8 4.4 of 315hp.

Via | Autoblog.com

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If the rumours that had Volvo distancing itself from Ford Motor Co. in summer were true, the blue oval would have made it in time to grab hold of the latest budding technology of the Göteborg company: the City Safety introduced on the new XC60 at Geneva.

The new gadget, management’s focus during the presentation, prevents crashes at low speed between the equipped vehicle and another moving in the same direction. The preventive action on the brakes engages on the basis of information from a front radar and an acoustic signal averts the driver. It’s an old emphasis on Volvo’s safety tradition.

Gerry Keaney, company vicepresident and director of sales and marketing, reportedly revealed to Automative News that City Safety will not only be adopted on the entire range, but will also be considered for some model Fords. Keaney underlined that a different choice would have been surprising: “Usually the latest finds in technology have their debut on premium cars and are then deployed on large-volume cars after a certain period. It would be strange if City Safety were never assembled on a Ford”.

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The pictures of the new Volvo XC60 are officialy out. The new mid-sized SUV from the Swedish Brand will be shown to the public on March 4th in Geneva.

At first the XC60 will be available with three different engines: the T6 with a turbocharged inline-6 gasoline engine that produces 285 hp and two variants of the D5 turbodiesel (with respectively 185 and 163 ps). All models will have four-wheel drive, but during 2009 a FWD version with a Euro5 version of the D5 engine will be available.

Continue reading: Geneva 2008: Volvo XC60

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Our dutch friends over at Autoblog.nl have discovered these first official images of the Volvo XC60, out a couple of days before the embargo date (20 febbraio).

The Volvo XC60 is the new mid-sized SUV from the swedish brand, from which much is expected in terms of sales. At the moment there are no technical details available and nothing is known about when sales will start.

Via | Autoblog.nl

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Volvo has announced the C30 Efficiency, a new version of its hatchback with lower fuel consumption and CO2 emissions: less than 4.5 l/100 km and 120 g/km on average.

The C30 Efficiency needs 0.4 l/100 km less than the normal C30 1.6D from which it derives and emits 9 g/km less of CO2. The reduction in fuel consumption and emissions was obtained thanks to
improvements in aerodynamics, lower rolling resistance thanks to new tyres and higher gearing in 3rd, 4th and 5th gears.

Volvo has also announced a new PowerShift double clutch automatic transmission that will be used in conjunction with its 2.0D engine in the C30, S40 and V50 models. More details in the press release below the fold.

Continue reading: Volvo C30 Efficiency - below 4.5 l/100km

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Volvo has some semi-obscured teasers of the Volvo C30 Concept.

It’s nice to see something of the old Volvo 480 and something of the SCC, in the . As anticipated, the C30 Concept will debut at the Detroit motor show (january ‘06), while the production version of the C30 will be show at the Paris motor show (september ‘06) [Via Autoblog.nl].

Continue reading: Volvo C30 teasers

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So. Some time ago it was thought that the Volvo C30 would have been seen in Frankfurt. Now it seems that a concept car will be in Detroit (january ‘06) and the production version will debut at the Paris motor show (september ‘06).

If you don’t want to wait so long, you might buy a Ford Focus or a Mazda 3 (they should have the platform and many engines in common). Otherwise, if you want a small Volvo and hope for something more like the SCC concept than a shortened version of the Volvo C40, you have to wait a while.

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