Volvo has been searching for real boots-on-the-pavement hometown heroes with its "Volvo For Life" awards for five years now. In April, Volvo will announce the winner for this year's award, the prizes for which include $1 million in contributions to to his or her favorite charities and a Volvo car for life. Given the longevity of Volvo cars, we thought it might be the same car for life, but it turns out to be a new Volvo every three years, which is a sweet deal.
While not quite as nice as the million dollars of donations and new whip every three years that the "Greatest Hometown Hero" will receive, all of the finalists get taken care of in some way. First, they get flown to New York for a nice honors ceremony, and each category winner has a short film about them presented.
The category winners also receive $50,000 contributions to the charity of their choice. The award finalists have been announced, and reading through the list makes us feel like we've been wasting our lives. There are three categories - Safety, Quality of Life, and Environment, and each category has three finalists.
They're a varied and interesting lot, who've certainly got the best interest of their fellow humans in mind:
Cadillac bested Lexus and Acura for first place in customer experience by the New York-based Luxury Institute. Only those earning more than $150,000 per year can take the Luxury Institutes survey, which gages brand tastes of the wealthiest Americans. Among the reasons Cadillac came out on top was the overall dealership experience, looks, and performance.Audi, BMW, Infiniti, Jaguar, Lincoln, Mercedes, and Volvo were also eligible for the award. If you've never heard of the Luxury Institute, you're not alone. We didn't want to take their survey anyway.
Thanks for the tip, CTGentleman!
Posted Feb 5th 2007 7:04PM by
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In designing the new V70, Volvo spent a lot of time focusing on its hindquarters. The tailgate and rear lamp styling are such that they increase interior volume and offer a nice, clean shut line.
This video leads you through some eye candy of the EUCD V70. The quick overview gets the wagon freaks among us pumped up for the new Volvo estate. Still shots of the car don't do the styling justice, as the vertical and horizontal elements really come together nicely and shots of the car pulling away from the camera show off the inherent motion in the taut lines.
There are also those among us who yawn and ask what's changed. We'll give them that, it's still a Volvo wagon, so you won't wet yourself like an excited puppy (until the R gets here, that is), but for those who love wagons, there's not too many cars that are as versatile and well thought out as a Volvo five-door. The current P2-based V70s are nice enough drivers, but they're on the brink of being dynamically obsolete, so we're hoping the EUCD platform makes the driving experience that much better.
You can be certain that the interior will be a comfortable, well appointed place to spend time, all wrapped in a clean Scandinavian design ethos. Follow the jump for your viewing pleasure.
[Source: Carscoop]
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click above image to view 14 more high-resolution images
We're not sure if Volvo officially unveiled its new V70, but AutoWeek.
nl
and are showing the new wagon on their websites, and with a little translation help from Motor Authority we can bring you the details. Looking for all the world like, well... an S80 station wagon, the new V70 sports a new skin keeping in step with the brand's design language that only makes a passing gesture to the slab sided boxes of yesteryear. The rear of the V70 sports Volvo's trademark vertical taillamps that extend upward from a wide base, and the rear glass shape hints ever so slightly at the unique shape of the C30's hatch, itself an homage to the original .
Interior space have apparently grown in every which way thanks to a body that's larger in every metric.
[Source: AutoWeek.nl, ]
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Even before its revolutionary in the late 1970s, the Gothenburg-based automaker had been making efforts to tread lightly. Now comes word that Volvo has developed a hybrid version of the C30 hatchback. The drive system is reportedly a series hybrid, with the batteries being charged on the go by a diesel powerplant.
There's plug-in charging capabilities, as well. The batteries alone can provide motive power for about 45 miles before the generator awakes. The electrified C30 will be part of the Michelin Challenge Bibendum, where engineers will presumably be trying to break stuff so that any production version has well-vetted hardware.
No details are available about whether the hybrid hardware was developed in-house by Volvo or bequeathed by parent Ford, which developed a similar series hybrid drivetrain with a hydrogen fuel-cell generator for the that debuted at the Detroit Auto Show this year.
[Source: Autobild - in German]
In the surprise of surprises, Ford CFO Don LeClair has come out to say that Ford's PAG luxury group will be PROFITABLE in 2007.
PAG, which lost $327 Million in 2006 and $1.15 Billion over the past three years, has been consistantly weighed down by Jaguar (though many other brands in the group have also operated in the red, as well), which has averaged somewhere between $500 Million and $1 Billion in losses per year since 2001. Another bummer for PAG has been the high value of the Euro and Pound against the Dollar.
It hasn't affected BMW or Mercedes as much, in part because their product lineups and brand strengths are better, but also because they build some of their vehicles, including the 3 Series, in the USA.
In the past, Volvo has been Ford's savior, earning between $800 Million and $1.2 Billion per year.
A stale product lineup has slowed sales here in the US for 2006, which contributed to the $327 Million overall loss for '06. The all-new S80 and C30 should help the Swedish semi-luxury brand to recapture those lost buyers. Also helping matters will be the eventual sale of Aston Martin for over $1 Billion (though it won't be counted as profit for PAG) and the slim profitability of Land Rover.
We'll see if this news comes to fruition, as 2007 just began and there's a long way to go to the finish line in December.
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