Volvo S60 News

The brand synonymous with car occupant safety is now putting pedestrians out of harm's way.  Volvo is demonstrating its new Pedestrian Detection avoidance system in Australia ahead of its debut in the S60 sedan at the Australian International Motor Show next month. The Chinese-owned Swedish brand said the safety system can detect a pedestrian stepping out onto the road and automatically activate the brakes if the driver does not react.  Volvo Car Australia managing director Alan Desselss said Volvo was setting a new car safety benchmark. "Volvo is committed to the safety of all road users and, with this system, arguably one of our most vulnerable road users is better protected than ever before." "This technology has not been designed to take control away from the driver but merely acts as a back-up system which, unlike a human, can never be distracted," he said. Monash University Accident Research Centre senior research fellow Dr Bruce Corben said travel speed is critically important to pedestrian safety. "In-vehicle technologies that can detect pedestrians ahead, activate braking earlier and so shorten vehicle stopping distances, show considerable promise, not only in avoiding collisions but, by reducing injury risk through lower impact speeds when collisions do occur," he said. Australian Automobile Association statistics show that over the last decade, 3449 pedestrians were killed on Australian roads, with more than a third over the age of 60 and 1 in 10 under the age of 14 years. Volvo's new system - which will be teamed with adaptive cruise control - uses the radar in the grille and a camera behind the interior rear-view mirror to detect pedestrians 80cm and taller.  The safety system will be optional on the new Volvo S60 sedan - which will start around $60,000 - as part of adaptive cruise control and collision warning system when it goes on sale in Australia in December.

He is the head-down boss of chassis and suspension development at the Swedish maker, but it's his flair and commitment to driving enjoyment which have just made a fundamental change to the safety-first brand.The all-new Volvo S60 sedan is a car with the sporty enjoyment of a BMW, as well as ride quality that trumps an Audi. It even comes with a Momo-style sporty wheel, instead of something which feels like it belongs in a Volvo bus.So, how does he do it? Firstly, he has backing from senior management to create cars which sell on more than safety. Secondly, he has the engineering brain and experience to do the job right. Thirdly, he has a suspension team who are better than anyone knew on stuff like the black-art work of shock absorbers, springs, bushes and even the basic chassis design. Thirdly, he cannot help himself.Sallqvist has a wicked sense of humour, rides motocross bikes for fun, and has a bunch of Aussie mates. Then again, he is scared of spiders and snakes, something he realised when he was riding in Australia a while back. "When I was trail riding near Noosa I fell off and the bike went into these bushes. I made someone else pull it out because I was scared of being bitten," Sallqvist laughs.Volvo is doing more and more tuning work on its cars but Sallqvist does not believe in all-out laps at the Nurburgring. Instead, he sends his team to a bunch of B-road twists and turns in Britain, where the bumps and lumps also create unique suspension challenges. "These are the old Roman roads. Some of them have not been re-surfaced in many, many years. They are very tough," he says.He is not a fan, either, of high-tech electronic suspension systems, even though Volvo has them - and driver-adjustable steering loading - in its cars. "You have to get the basics right. You cannot mask things with electronics," he says.The S60 shows what Sallqvist and his team can do and he promises more in the future. He has already done a job on the baby Volvo C30, promising it now has the suspension tweaking to match sporty its looks.Follow Paul Gover on Twitter!

AUSTRALIAN Formula 1 driver Mark Webber is on cloud nine after Red Bull's one-two finish at last weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix. "It could have gone either way, but in the end Seb (Sebastian Vettel) did the job at the crucial stage and deserved the victory," he says. "A one-two finish for us as a team is sensational. The cars ran very well and it was a nice come back for us after a tough few races where we didn't finish as we wanted to. I'd like to be one spot further up, but its a great result for the team."V8 Supercars Australia is keeping its options open in the search for alternate engines for the V8 Car of the Future. The category estimates that a current high-end V8 Supercar engine costs a ludicrously high amount to run at almost $40 a kilometre. Mark Skaife, who heads the CoF committee, acknowledges that the biggest point of contention in CoF was the engine program. Under CoF, V8 Supercars plans to overhaul engine systems used from 2012.Today engines cost about $100,000. However CoF wants a lighter and longer-lasting engine for $50,000 with a 10,000km life cycle and the same output as today's cars.HAVING achieved two career milestones in an impressive performance at the recent Clipsal 500, Tony D'Alberto believes next week's Hamilton 400, New Zealand will be a good indicator of whether he can carry the form into the rest of the season. "I would love to think we could do that more often," D'Alberto says. "The car's very good at street circuits so we are looking forward to getting over there and seeing how we go."THE Hamilton 400 will be a big milestone for Steven Johnson. The No17 Jim Beam Racing driver celebrates his 150th ATCC/V8 Supercar event start in New Zealand, becoming just the 13th driver in history to achieve the feat. Since debuting at Oran Park in 1994 Johnson has notched up 337 starts, three wins, two poles, and 11 podiums. Johnson is downplaying the achievement. "It does make me feel old," he says. "I haven't thought about it too much but I'm pretty pleased to have been around for so long."THE International Rally of Queensland has received a huge boost with the signing of world rally star Chris Atkinson to contest the event for the Proton R3 team. Gold Coast-based Atkinson, 30, and fellow World Rally Championship driver Alister McRae, will line up in a pair of Proton Satria Neo S2000 cars for the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship. The Queensland rally on July 30 is round four of the championship. Atkinson, McRae and the British-run Mellors Elliot Motorsport Proton team are expected to be strong contenders in Queensland, where Atkinson won in 2004 before joining Subaru for four years in the World Rally Championship.MORE rounds, more drivers in the feature races, the reconfirmation of the television package and a tweaking of the points structure have all been discussed at the first planning meeting for the 2010/11 World Series Sprintcars campaign. The World Series management group met in Adelaide recently to review last season and plan next season, which is says will be the biggest in the history of the national series. WSS group chairman Geoff Kendrick says there have been "a lot of expressions of interests from tracks". "The reaction has been positive with most of the tracks already indicating they will take a WSS round next year" he says.ASTON Martin will tackle this year's Nurburgring 24 hour endurance race in a Rapide. The Rapide endurance racer has very few modifications, apart from the removal of the luxury interior addition of mandatory safety gear and racing slicks. The brand has been quite successful in Le Mans-class racing and has performed well at the Ring in the SP8 category, which it has won the past two years running. Last year a V12 Vantage had a class win and came 21st overall. Apart from the Rapide, Aston is running a V12 Vantage in this year's event.IT has only just had its debut at the Geneva Motor Show but Volvo's new S60 is already track ready. The sedan debuts in the Belgian Touring Car Championship this weekend. The racecar put together by the Chinese-owned Swedish carmaker's Belgian S60 racing team. The liveried racecar shares little with the road-going S60. The Belgian Touring Car Championship is highly-regulated. Each car shares a tube chassis, extensive aerodynamic work and front and rear suspension. The S60 racer gets its power from a rear drive 305kW V6 mated to a six-speed manual

Europe is back in business, celebrating the end of the global financial crisis that rocked the car world and drove the biggest of them all - General Motors - into bankruptcy.There were green shoots of happiness at the Frankfurt Motor Show in late 2009, but this week's Geneva Motor Show shows the same sort of excitement and promise of an early spring morning in Europe.Every carmaker has something new in Geneva, from full-blown production models to quirky concepts. The Swiss show is often dismissed as a sideshow but this time, with 25 new models as diverse as the Nissan Micra and Porsche Cayenne, there is serious action on every front.Carmakers are predictably focussed on green solutions to meet the challenges of fuel economy and CO2 emissions - with Fiat even showing a tiny two-cylinder engine for its funkoid 500 - but there is also room for fun.  How else do you describe a Honda city concept that looks like a 20th-century take on the unicycles used by Circe du Soleil acrobats?But even the green machines have turned mean as Ferrari shows its 599 Vettura Labratorio hybrid, although BYD from China balanced things with its fully-electric E6 hatch.Porsche also has its 918 supercar concept and both it and the Ferrari tap Formula One technology with KERS hybrid packs - that's Kinetic Energy Recovery System - to store energy for a quick, explosive boost of extra power.Porsche plans to put the 918 into production but, as yet, Ferrari is only using the super-special 599 - painted symbolically in green instead of the Italian brand's signature red - as a rolling labratory.  "We want to understand how to use this technology. We are not yet at the point to see it in a road going Ferrari," says Amedeo Felisa, Ferrari's CEO.The upbeat mood at Geneva is captured by the top man at Bentley, Dr Franz-Josef Paefgen, who says the reaction to his company's Mulsanne and Supersports models has filled him with confidence after a shocking 2009.  "There is a feeling that it is behind us," Paefgen says as super-wealthy Bentley buyers emerge from their GFC-proof bunkers.Walking the stands at Geneva I see green machines that are more than just concepts and plenty of choices for small-car buyers, from budget hatches to baby prestige cars like the Audi A1.  The little Audi gets a rousing reception, Volvo wins praise for the safety and styling of the new S60 sedan and the Alfa Giulietta - replacement for the 147 - raises more questions about the often-promised renaissance for the brand.Lexus shows a compact new CT200h hybrid that brings petrol-electric power to a new group of buyers, Mini has the Countryman with extra ground clearance and the basics for a World Rally Championship challenge in 2011, and the Mitsubishi ASX crossover - test driven this week by Peter Lyon near Tokyo - heads the Japanese contingent.For Alfa fans, the Giulietta is pitched at the Volkswagen Golf with a range of 1.4, 1.6 and 2.0-litre petrol and diesel engines.  BMW’s new 5 Series and a 4-litre six-cylinder X5 diesel creates a predictable buzz among SUV fans.Kia’s head of design, Peter Schreyer, lifts the wraps off the stylish new Sportage, which is due in Australia later this year, with the promise of both turbodiesel and petrol engines, as well as front and all-wheel drive.  The Sportage could be major hit for the Korean brand, matching the impact of the Hyundai ix35, when it goes on sale with an opener in the sub-$30,000 bracket.Ford leverages the first European appearance of its new Focus hatch in Geneva by unveiling the Focus wagon, which at this stage is a Europe-only car. Europeans are big wagon buyers and the wagon is expected to account for one-third of all Focus sales there.But the Focus wagon is only the halfway point - the fifth of 10 proposed models - using the same basic building blocks and the future includes a Focus electric car. Currently, the wagon, hatch, sedan and C-Max and Grand C-Max all share the same underpinnings.“We are now using our global resources to develop cars for all countries, including Australia,” says Ford's technical chief, Derrick Kuzak.  He also reveals the current Europe-only Kuga compact SUV and North American Escape will be replaced by a single global car, which could head to Australia, and hints that a hot performance Focus with a more-powerful version of Ford’s 2.0-litre Ecoboost turbo engine will also be available in Australia.Lexus uses Geneva to showcase its critically important CT 200h hybrid, which it hopes to become a volume player.  But the CT 200h is not the only car to push the green theme at the affordable end.Hyundai has the stylish turbocharged 1.7-litre i-flow concept sedan, which uses a lithium-ion battery pack with six-speed dual-clutch transmission, and it is joined by the ix35 FCEV hydrogen fuel-cell car and Opel’s Flextreme GT-E.Apart from Ferrari, Porsche shows off its GT3 R Hybrid - also with KERS - and 918 Spyder, both exploring the outer limits of hybrid drivetrains for race and road cars.  The Cayenne, along with the VW Touareg, share their hybrid debuts as Audi uses the first appearance of its baby A1 to reveal a full-electric E-tron concept that joins earlier R8-based plug-in supercars.Apart from the conventional petrol and diesel A1, Audi also adds the RS5 coupe to its A5 lineup and a hybrid A8 sedan. The RS5 gets a powerful 335kW/430Nm 4.2-litre V8, quattro all-wheel drive and seven-speed S-tronic dual clutch gearbox.Like the BMW-built Mini, Audi has several distinctly styled A1s on its stand. It says owners will have access to so much customisation that no two A1s will be exactly the same.Audi has the Mini firmly in its sights with an expected starting price around $33,000 for the A1, with a three-door car to kick of sales with a five-door and cabrio expected. The range-topper is expected to be an S version with a performance-tuned turbo four cylinder engine.Citroen springs one of the few real surprises of the show with its hot-pink Survolt sportscar while Giugiaro teams up with Proton to deliver a stylish hybrid city car.  The Survolt is a pure design fantasy with no likely production expected. The showcar did not even have an engine and Citroen says it has been designed to go electric.Apart from the sleek Citroen, two Italian styling houses - Pininfarina and Bertone - have show cars based on Alfa Romeo mechanical parts. Bertone returns to Geneva for the first time in two years with the Pandion 2+2 concept coupe and Pininfarina shows the two-seater 2uettottanta.Apart from the twin concepts, Citroen has the DS3 Racing as well as its DS High Rider three door, a pointer to the next-generation C4, which is due to be launched next year as a five-door.  The company will only build 1000 versions of the DS3 racing and the head of local importer Ateco Automotive, Neville Crichton, says he would like to bring a few to Australia but will initially focus on launching the DS range.“It certainly is a good looking thing,” Crichton says.  Mercedes-Benz continues to create a buzz at Geneva with its SLS Gullwing supercar but the F800 Style, a pointer to the next-generation CLS minus its cantilever rear doors, dominates the Mercedes stand and shares the limelight with the E-Class cabriolet.Fitting in the quirky category in Geneva is Aston Martin’s Cygnet hatch, a remake of Toyota’s iQ city car. The $50,000 makeover model will only be sold to existing Aston Martin customers.  Aston Martin boldly has the Cygnet right next to its four-door flagship sports car, the Rapide.

The reason is simple — the new S60 is the first car in the world with a system to 'see' pedestrians and brake automatically if there is an chance of a collision.Volvo has been working on the safety breakthrough for more than five years and has built it into a car which will be a landmark for the brand as the last all-new model before the Chinese take control of the Swedish make.  Ford is about to sell Volvo and the S60 is the last car of an era which saw the brand make big strides on style, comfort and — not surprisingly — safety.The S60 will reach Australia later in 2010 after an official preview at the Geneva Motor Show in just over three weeks.  But the first details are public already and reflect everything from a good looking new body to improved safety, and even a bigger boot and more space in the rear seat."The emphasis is on emotional space, sporty design and dynamic driving properties. What is more, the car's innovative new technologies help you become both a better and safer driver," says Stephen Odell, president of Volvo Cars. Engines in the new S60 will run from a fuel-miser 1.6-litre DRIVe diesel to a turbocharged five-cylinder petrol motor with 224 kiloWatts, with claims of a 10 per cent economy improvement across the range. A six-speed automatic is standard, with front-wheel drive except for Haldex all-wheel drive on the flagship T6.Inside, Volvo claims a breakthrough infotainment system that integrates satnav, telephone, sound system and trip computer in either a five or seven-inch colour screen.  On the safety front, and in addition to the pedestrian-protection system, Volvo is fitting a more-advanced ESP stability system that detects skidding earlier, the City Safety system — which brakes automatically to avoid car-to-car collisions — introduced on the XC60 and a new corner traction control system.One surprise for the Swedish brand is that the new Volvo will be built at Ghent, in Belgium.  The S60 will arrive in Australia towards the end of this year, but there is no firm news on prices or the model lin-eup.

It's a new Volvo S60 and it uses an updated and improved version of the City Safety system that already helps XC60 drivers avoid low-speed rear-enders.A combination of camera and radar scans ahead of the vehicle, looking for what the vehicle's pre-programmed computers already know is a human being. The sensors look for a combination of sizes and shapes, also looking at movement, to know if the person is likely to step into the path of the vehicle. It sounds complicated, and it is.Watching a computer simulation of the system is fascinating, not just because it can pick out human shapes but because it can monitor so many at the same time and then detect the ones which are likely to blunder into the path of a car .Like a youngster chasing a ball …Things get more impressive during a live demonstration.Heading at 25km/h towards a life-sized child dummy is not fun, but the Volvo does its job and applies emergency braking to pull up short with no threat to the dummy. It works with an adult-sized dummy too, and the XC70 test car also has the City Safety system I found some impressive in the XC60.It's only a slow-speed system, but — unlike a Toyota project I tried several years ago — it works and it's real. Volvo has a complicated name for its system, including words like 'auto braking' and 'human sensing', but after the demonstration in Sweden I think it should be tagged simply as KidSafe.Volvo intends to have KidSafe in the S60 in Australia before the end of 2010, with a rapid rollout across the range. It's not cheap but, like all safety systems, it will be standard equipment and will make a genuine difference on the world's roads.Meanwhile, a battery electric car in a major crash sounds like a recipe for disaster. Acid everywhere, live cables, leaking gases ... That's why Volvo is smashing through the barriers to having its first plug-in electric car on the road by 2012. It has just rammed the back end of a battery test car at better than 50km/h to see exactly what happens with its experimental battery safety cell. The good news is, nothing ...The back of the V70 wagon was destroyed but the heavyweight structure around the battery pack stayed intact, there was no fluid leakage, and the rest of the car was not compromised.Now Volvo is looking to transfer the knowledge into its upcoming plug- in cars, and the hybrids it also sees as part of its future. "Electrification gives much more energy for transport. It's a key opportunity," says Dr Marten Levenstam, who heads long-range strategy and innovation at Volvo. 

So does one of the engineers in the cabin, who was so upset at being caught by the Carparazzi team that he vented his annoyance with a signal to the snappers. The car in question is the all-new Volvo S60 and the reason for the secrecy and concern is that it sets an all-new design and safety direction for the Swedish brand.It is very close to the concept car shown at the Detroit Motor Show earlier this year, complete with a coupe-style rounded roof but without the rear-hinged door on the prototype.Volvo is relying on the new S60 to revitalise its following and also cement its future by ensuring a viable sale out of the Ford empire. "Unless we deliver on the plan then the ownership doesn't matter," says Steve O'Dell, head of Volvo Cars, speaking to Carsguide at the Frankfurt Motor Show. "Ford has declared and re-affirmed tat Volvo is for sale. But it's not a fire sale.We are trying to find the right potential owner." O'Dell says Volvo has cut staff and production to get it through the global economic crisis and back into consistent profit. "We'll come through the downturn. But you cannot cost save to a profit, you have to have great products." He believes the S60 will be great, with a high-efficiency DrivE powertrain including a direct-injection, 1.6-litre petrol engine with a twin-clutch transmission.The target is fuel consumption of just 5.0L/100km with class leading CO2 emissions. The efficient new engines are a centrepiece of Volvo's planning, giving the company the green credentials to match its safety record. "They have been in the pipeline for two to three years. The target is 99 grams/kilometre for the C30," says O'Dell."The S60 will be ready in the (European) spring next year." On the safety front, the S60 will be the first Volvo with an all-new system that detects pedestrians and will brake automatically at up to 25km/h to prevent an impact. It will join the existing City Safety system for car-to-car crash avoidance and such Volvo innovations as blind-spot warnings and a system which warns a driver if it detects signs of drowsiness.

And it will be in Australia by the end of 2010. Despite ongoing questions about the ownership, funding and model makeup of the Swedish company, Volvo is driving forward with a benchmark replacement for its mid-sized S60.It's the car with the make-or-break task of building on the success of the compact C30 and the classy XC60, which is the new hero in the prestige SUV class."The S60 at the moment is the oldest car in our lineup. It's also in a segement that's extremely agressive, but very big worldwide. It's the class with the 3 Series BMW, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Audi A4," says the managing director of Volvo Australia, Alan Desselss."The S60, as nice a car as it is, is not being able to fight with the modernisation of that class. This new S60 is clearly going to challenge that very seriously."Volvo has already previewed the S60 Concept car, showing an all-new design direction that is much more stylish than its current slad-sided sedans. It still has Volvo's signature hips, but the shape is more flowing and the end result is much more 21st century."I think it gives a very clear statement of where the brand is going.And that's the exciting thing," says Desselss."There is a huge hoo-hah about whether Ford is selling Volvo or not, but the future product lineup is extremely good for the brand. Never before hasve the swedes been so focussed on building emotional cars."They look good and drive well. It started with C30, then the XC60, and now the S60."Peter Horbury, the man who made his name with the 'Bin the Box' approach to Volvo design, has just moved back to the company after leading Ford design in North America but Desselss says the upcoming S60 is the work of a newer generation."It's new design. Steve Matlin did the car and it's his first project from go to whoa. It is totally different in every respect," Dessells says.With the S60 coming up fast, he is also happy to give the first serious indications on the car's timing."The production car will be shown in Detroit next year at the motor show in January and we hope to have it in Australia by quarter four next year. If we're lucky. But possibly the first quarter the year after."