Volvo V60 2011 News

Volvo, Subaru, Land Rover, Citroen and GM have issued safety recalls for some vehicles due to defective manufacturing issues.

The Swedish brand, which joined V8Supercars in 2014, is committed to running S60 sedans in the series until 2016.But with rule changes for 2017 allowing more variety in body styles and engines, Volvo is rumoured to be considering a switch to a racer based on its V60 wagon.An image obtained by CarsGuide shows how it would look ready to race.Volvo Car Australia refused to confirm the illustration’s authenticity. “We do not comment on future plans,” says spokesman Oliver Peagam.But the sensible Swedish company has raced wagons before, grabbing enduring publicity for the brand. Volvo ran two 850 Estates in the 1994 British Touring Car Championship, and one of the Tom Walkinshaw Racing-prepared wagons competed in the Australian Super Touring Championship the following year. Two decades later they’re still remembered.Current V8 Supercar rules mandate four-door sedans and V8 engines. Regulations for 2017 will open the sport to any body shape with at least four seats, while four- and six-cylinder turbo engines will be able to line up against traditional V8s.For Volvo, the switch to a V60 racer makes senseThe changes are designed to make Australia’s premier motorsport category relevant after longstanding rivals Ford and Holden shut down their Australian factories in 2016 and 2017.The “Gen2” rule book would allow these companies to compete with Mustang and Camaro coupes instead of Falcon and Commodore sedans as well as attracting more brands to the series.Hyundai and Lexus, for example, are both known to be interested in entering cars.For Volvo, the switch to a V60 racer makes sense, highlighting the brand’s practical wagon prowess, for one thing. And with the Swedish company dropping its big five-, six- and eight-cylinder engines, winning races with a high-power turbo four would convince customers that small doesn’t mean slow.A small turbo four brings racetrack advantagesLast year Volvo revealed it was working on a high-performance version of its new 2.0-litre Drive-E engine for road cars. Two regular turbos combined with an electric turbo compressor boost the four’s power to a V8-equalling 330kW.Volvo’s racing partner Polestar was involved in development of the concept engine. This experienced Swedish outfit, which engineered Volvo’s winning V8 Supercar engine, certainly will be able to extract even more power from a racing version of the 2.0-litre Drive-E.Its compact size improves weight distribution between the front and rear axle and lowers the centre of gravityA small turbo four brings racetrack advantages, as Volvo Polestar engine director Mattias Evensson explains when the triple-charged concept was revealed.“Its compact size improves weight distribution between the front and rear axle and lowers the centre of gravity — two factors that have a significant effect on the handling, whether it is a race car or a street car,” he says.The racer would have to adopt rear-drive as demanded by the Gen2 Supercar rules, unlike the showroom V60 which is front or all-wheel-drive.

The plug-in diesel-electric hybrid claims a sprint time of 6.2 seconds and fuel use of just 1.9 litres/100km. But if the performance and economy numbers are good, the price may put buyers off. Volvo Cars Australia boss Matt Braid says he hopes to have the V60 D6 hybrid wagon on sale for less than $100,000. He'll need to sharpen the pencil, given the petrol-powered version of the same car starts from $68,000. Admittedly, the plug-in diesel hybrid will use bugger-all fuel but even if the car lands for $90,000, the $20,000 difference will buy a lot of petrol. Braid says the V60 D6 will showcase Volvo's technology. "It's a niche model, volumes won't be massive, but it shows where we are on hybrids," he notes. "This car makes more sense for us than the (pure electric) C30 drivE. The lease and buyback arrangement Volvo has in Europe won't work for us in Australia. That makes the V60 the smartest showcase of our next-generation drivetrains." The D6 wagon's front wheels are powered by a 158kW/440Nm 2.4-litre turbodiesel. A 50kW/200Nm electric motor drives the rear axle, meaning the Volvo can run as a front, rear and all-wheel drive car depending on which of the three drive modes, pure, hybrid and power, it is operating in. Hybrid is the default mode when the car is started.  A gauge on the dash shows when power demand dictated by the right foot pressure  looks like kicking in the diesel to boost performance. Drivers can then either ease off to stay in electric mode, or feel a tiny jolt as the diesel fires up to join the party. Electric-only range is claimed to be around 50km at 100km/h but range anxiety won't be an issue given the diesel's fuel use and 45-litre tank should give it a 1000km cruise between tanks. The first batch of 1000 V60 D6 hybrids will be sold in Europe, with Australia joining the queue when full production of 4000-6000 cars, or 10 to 15 per cent of all V60s starts next year.  

The Volvo V60 ‘Panther’ commercial shows the black car demonstrating its dynamic abilities – along with its capacity to carry the big-cat pet in your household. It’s a far cry from the staid Volvo image of years ago, and certainly got our attention. But it also got the less applauding attention – and a round of tutt-tutting – from viewers who complained to the Advertising Standards Bureau, saying the ad “unambiguously depicts behaviours which would be both illegal and dangerous on a public road”. After taking a look, the ASB decided the footage depicted “reckless speed” and “unsafe driving”, and directed that it had to be dropped or the footage modified. Volvo agreed to modify the advertisement, and duly took it away to have any of the bits cut out that might be deemed to alarm the complainers. In other words, the exciting bits. “We took down the offending video and put up one that complied with the regulations,” Volvo spokesman Oliver Peagam says. “It was a version of the Panther ad, but we edited and removed the elements that were causing concern. There were cuts of sequences that showed things like the car going sideways.” However the Panther ad, plus the recent Suzuki Swift ad that showed some equally spirited driving, were among those that have sparked a review of car advertising’s current self-regulating code. Over the next six months, the Department of Infrastructure and Transport will examine the code, how it is interpreted and how the ASB handles complaints about car advertising. Peagam says the code currently acknowledges that advertisers can make use of fantasy, humour and exaggeration in commercials, which can be used to produce exciting footage that fits with Volvo’s changing image. “Volvo is unlikely to return to the staid image of previous years,” he says.  “A return to the old days doesn’t fit with the way the brand is developing and changing with new models coming through – and the new audiences and new demographic of buyers that are interested in them.”  

The good news is that the cars of the future are not boring electric "golf carts" but sleek and sexy machines.Take for example the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics Concept, or even the updated Toyota Prius C. Just as smart, but also featuring powertrain technology that is much further down the line, is the Hyundai Blue2 Concept, powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, or the Mitsubishi Concept PX-MiEV with a plug-in hybrid system that extends the use of the vehicle in electric mode.Here is a sample of the green vehicles on the stands at this year’s show:BMW Vision EfficientDynamics Concept: Making its Australian debut, this is the concept for the coming BMW i8. A conventional 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbo-diesel mated to a pair of electric motors powers this four-wheel-drive 2+2 sports car. The hybrid combination pumps out 265kW of power and 800Nm of torque, and can run on electric power alone for up to 50km, diesel only for 645km or a combination of both. The lithium-ion battery packs charge in just 2.5 hours from AC mains or 44 minutes on quick charge.Ford: The new Liquefied Phase Injection LPG technology in the Ford Falcon EcoLPi has improved power and torque and decreased fuel consumption (12.5L/100km) and CO2 emissions (203g/km). Ford will also show its long-awaited diesel Territory with a 2.7-litre V6 boasting fuel economy of 8.2L/100km.Holden: The Ecoline Series II Cruze range with a new generation 2.0-litre turbo diesel (5.6L/100km) is Australia’s most fuel-efficient locally-built car. The stand will also feature the Cruze 1.4-litre intelligent turbo induction (1.4 iTi) petrol engine (6.4L/100km manual) and other Ecoline models, including the Commodore E85 flex-fuel and Spark Ignition Direct Injection V6 powered Commodores and Captivas.Honda hybrids: Honda will show the stylish Honda CR-Z coupe petrol-electric hybrid that arrives here later this year, as well as its second-generation Insight hybrid.Hyundai Blue2 Concept: This is the Korean company’s first sedan-style Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV) powered by hydrogen. It delivers power of 90kW and fuel economy of 2.8L/100km. Being a concept car, it comes with a host of future electronic aids, such as an automatic opening door system, roof and side cameras to replace mirrors, and a motion sensor-operated infotainment system.Lexus LF-Gh Concept: This concept features the hybrid system already in the Lexus fleet, but is the first time the spindle-shaped grille that will become a feature of future designs will be seen here, and hints at a future grand touring sedan. Lexus Australia chief executive Tony Cramb says the LF-Gh reaffirms that hybrids can be sleek and stylish.Mazda Minagi: This is a crossover concept specifically engineered to be the first with frugal SKYACTIV technology diesel and petrol engines and transmission. The car is an insight into the coming CX-5.Mercedes-Benz C-Class: The range now includes the updated 7G-Tronic Plus seven-speed automatic transmission for improved economy. Diesel models come with the ECO start/stop function as standard, and the C250 diesel coupe boasts economy of 5.1L/100km. At the top end of the Benz range, the S350 diesel BlueTec luxury saloon has economy figures of 7L/100km.Mitsubishi ?i-Miev-based electric vehicle concepts: The i-MiEV is about to hit the showrooms and Mitsubishi already has an SUV variant, which will be on its stand. The Concept PX-MiEV has a plug-in hybrid system with fuel economy better than 2L/100km. It is powered by two permanent magnet synchronous motors and a 1.6-litre MIVEC engine. The PX-MiEV also features Smart Grid technology that allows the battery to power home appliances during a blackout or at peak times when electricity tariffs are high.Nissan Leaf: The all-electric Leaf hits showrooms next year. The World Car of the Year features a satnav system linked to the "Global Data Centre’’ in Japan so you just press a button to find the closest recharging stations.Toyota Prius C concept & Prius V: The latest in the Prius family are a funky coupe concept (C) and a people mover (V). The Prius C concept shows how stylish the Prius can be and the V shows how spacious it can be. The V also features a lightweight-resin panoramic moon roof, weighing about 40 per cent less than a regular glass roof of the same size. It will be the first to feature Toyota’s new Entune multimedia system with mobile internet and Microsoft’s Bing search engine. The system will offer live weather and traffic updates, along with monitoring the best fuel prices in town.Volkswagen Golf BlueMotion: The BlueMotion has the same 1.6-litre engine with the same output at 77kW and 250Nm as the 77TDI, but its fuel use is just 3.8L/100km compared with 5.12L/100km (77TDI) and CO2 of 99g/km (133g/km 77TDI). The gains are made from a lower idle speed, stop/start technology, aerodynamics and low rolling resistance tyres.Volvo V60 diesel plug-in hybrid: The world’s first diesel hybrid plug-in goes into production next year. The driver can choose from three modes: Pure, which is all-electric with a range of up to 50km, Hybrid with an average fuel consumption of 1.9L/100km and CO2 of 49g/km, and Power, which boosts total diesel and electric power to 200kW and 640Nm of torque with acceleration to 100km/h in 6.9 seconds. The turbodiesel drives the front wheels and an electric motor drives the rear axle. It can be recharged via a regular power socket in 4.5 hours on 10A charge.PLUS: There will also be displays by infrastructure companies including Better Place EV, which has announced plans to begin rolling out infrastructure in Canberra this year.

It's the first full electric car to get the maximum safety score, although a range of petrol-electric hybrids, including the Toyota Camry, which has just moved up in local testing, have managed a five

The latest mishap follows a crash earlier in the year when a Volvo crashed into a truck instead of braking automatically to avoid it.  This time the Pedestrian Detection system failed to trigger as the latest V60 approached a humanoid dummy during a demonstration at Verona in Italy.The incident also reveals that Volvo engineers discreetly modify the inflatable dummies to ‘trick’ the car’s radar system into detecting a pedestrian.  More than 650 demonstrations passed without incident during the V60 press preview in Italy but things went wrong for the Aussies.“I am very sad this has happened. We know the technology works, but I am not happy with the demonstration methods we are using," says Jonas Tisell, Volvo’s head of active safety.Volvo believes the failures, which saw the dummy struck a number of times, occurred because a small plastic panel covered in aluminium foil that sits in a sandbag at the dummy was not installed correctly.  Volvo also suspects a tractor and trailer directly behind the dummy – but some distance away – has confused the pedestrian warning system.“The radar goes straight through the air-filled plastic dummy so we put some aluminium inside in the sandbag at the dummy’s feet so the radar could detect it,” says Tisell.“The reflector was not facing exactly the right way and instead the system detected the tractor directly in line of sight in the background.  The camera told the system that there might be a pedestrian there because it detected the shape of a human, but when the radar went to search for it, it only picked up a faint signal for the dummy and got a more solid signal for the tractor.”Tisell also defends the way the demonstration is run.  “The problem with an inflatable dummy is that it’s plastic and has air inside. The radar needs an echo, it looks for the body mass, and the radar doesn’t bounce off an inflatable dummy."It cannot see it. It sees through it. So we added a radar reflector – a 10cm piece of plastic covered in aluminium foil – in the sand bag at the feet of the dummy.  The system works on humans. With humans you have a mass the radar can detect.”Tisell says he has took the place of the test dummy during development of the system, although Volvo does not let journalists repeat the experiment.  “You never know what can happen. Driving towards a human being, if something goes wrong, it will be a very difficult situation to handle,” he says.Tisell insists there is no need to make any changes to the calibration of the pedestrian warning technology, but Volvo will review its public demonstration procedures for its crash avoidance systems.The 5000 dummies identical to the one at the centre of the latest bungle – distributed to Volvo dealers worldwide – could be updated with an aluminium belt that will help the system detect the dummy.