Nope, these are not to be expected in your local Volvo showroom any time soon, as they are one-off creations by Swedish coachmaker Dalbo Fordonsteknik. These vehicles were spotted outside the Volvo Museum in in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Still, pretty neat, I think, as I'm always interested in seeing new and/or different truck thinking.

Full story here.

More images after the jump.

Continue reading...

Volvo, ever the safety leader, is working on developing an injury-proof car. With any luck, the hope to be able to offer such a vehicle by 2020.

Claes Tingvall, the Swedish road administration's head of traffic safety, calls this the biggest revolution in the auto industry since the seatbelt. And states Jan Ivarsson, leader of the Volvo safety team: "I think if you look into the future, we as a community will not accept that we have injuries. We have other things that are important in life."

Full story here and here.

Volvo, as in Volvo "Truck," not Volvo "Car," is testing diesel-electric hybrid trash trucks. They are hoping to sell hybrid trucks next year. When you think about it, a trash truck is perfect for hybrid duties. The speeds are usually very low, which means the electric motor aspect is most often in use. It shuts it self down when it comes to a halt like hybrid cars, which trash trucks do a lot of. It recharges when braking, again, something trash trucks do a lot of.

Here's Green Car Advisor's take: Volvo Truck Talking Trash About Hybrids

Volvo is on the skids. Sales peaked in the United States back in 2005 when the Swedish brand sold 139,000 cars, wagons and SUVs. Last year that number was down under 100,000 and this year isn't looking good. Problems include the weak dollar, Volvo's lack of a U.S. assembly plant and new products that have been missing their marks. Even the likable C30 has proven to be a tough sell.

Maybe the 2009 Volvo XC60 is the answer. Small crossover SUVs like this have pulled more than one car company up off the basement floor recently, but Volvo needs help now and the Belgian-built XC60 won't go on sale in the United States until next February. And even then volume will be low. Volvo hopes to sell just 20,000 annually in the United States, all of them in 281-hp T6 AWD trim.

"This is the safest Volvo ever, but it's also the most stunning," said Frederik Arp of the XC60 at the Geneva auto show. The president of Volvo Cars went on to say that the SUV is for C30 owners who have grown out of their cars. That means young urbanites who have decided to reproduce.

Arp's words ring true. This Volvo looks like it's ready to take on the BMW X3 and Mercedes GLK, two of its chief competitors in the small premium utility segment. Instead of big and boxy like the larger XC90, the XC60 is compact and athletic-looking with swept-back headlights and a rising beltline. But will people buy it, or has Volvo, like Buick, become a car company unable to shake its fuddy-duddy image, a brand sworn off by anybody under 50 years old?

What do you think? Can Volvo be saved? -- Scott Oldham, Inside Line Editor in Chief

Images of the upcoming Volvo XC60 have found their way to the Net before the news embargo deadline. So, what else is new...

As per most new Volvos—no, make that all new Volvos, it's a handsome ride, and should do well for the brand. Rumored engines for Europe include a 285-hp 3.0 V6 and a 185-hp 2.4 turbo diesel.

Here's Inside Line's take: Leaked: 2009 Volvo XC60

When I had my '98 Explorer, I kept my Class III trailer hitch attached to the vehicle. It was a good thing I did, as I was rear-ended several times during the time I owned it, and that rear hitch took the brunt of the hit, thus never damaging my vehicle.

Now there's a rear trailer hitch designed specifically for such impacts, in that it compresses to some degree when hit. This portable spare bumper protects your vehicle from rear end collision damage caused by tailgaters, uninsured motorists, bumper-to-bumper traffic, distracted drivers, inattentive cell phone users, drivers with poor judgment, text messengers and lousy parallel parkers. Another advantage is that it also acts as a step in order to help you reach your roof rack.

Full story here.



In a related story (here and here), the British Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre Thatcham has tested three of the automotive industry’s collision prevention technologies, and they all passed with with excellent results. The Volvo City Safety, Mercedes Distronic Plus, and Honda CMBS use radar systems to mitigate and prevent low speed collisions – which make up 75% of all motor accidents.

If you're a Volvo fan, and going to be in Germany this March you want to take a side trip over to the Essen Motor Show. On display there will be an exhibit called "Volvo cars - 80 years of serving society." As you might expect there will be Volvo models that represent the various models throughout the brand's history.



The show runs from March 26 – 30. There's more info here at Volvo's newsroom site (here).

Swedish car site Auto Motor Sport Sweden (here) is reporting that the Volvo XC90 replacement has just been canceled.

There are several reasons such as increased costs in developing lightweight components, but the big one is that Volvo does not have an eco-friendly enough powertrain (hybrids, etc.) to power this vehicle. So instead Volvo will concentrate on smaller SUVs, such as the XC60, a smaller still XC50, and perhaps even an XC30.

Full story here.

UPDATE: Not true, so says Volvo. Apparently that story that was run by Auto Motor and Sport Sweden yesterday was incorrect. Full story here.

This nifty Volvo Surf Rescue Concept was conceived by Volvo and built by Aria, a concept car building firm from Irvine, CA. The car was first shown at SEMA. 

Other than some eye-catching graphics, the 3.2L, 235 hp car has been given a 5" suspension lift, oversized floation-type tires, and modified body panels. The interior has also been given the beach once-over.

Full story here.

I don't know how they did it and there were no displays I could see explaining it, but this Volvo C30 2.0's windows have been replaced by video screens displaying snowboarding scenes. I thought it was one of the cooler displays at the show. Considering Pimp My Ride once put a 30-inch plasma screen UNDER a 4Runner, it's only a matter of time before they try something like this. Why do I need to see the road when I can better spend my time watching the Flying Tomato? - James Riswick, Associate Editor