A couple days back we received word from Automotive News that Volvo was looking to downsize its dealer body by 30 percent in an effort to cut costs. The Swedish automaker says that isn't going to happen. PR VP Geno Effler said that while Volvo doesn't plan to cut almost a third of its 350 US dealers, it will try to persuade its struggling dealers to call it quits. The problem with Volvo's denial is that we'd heard about Volvo closing a significant amount of dealers way back in December, before the car market took it's most recent nose dive.

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Time to raid your savings! Volvo has revealed pricing and specs for its much anticipated new SUV, the XC60 – and you won’t get much change out of £25,000. Three trim levels will be available – S, SE and SE Lux – with the line-up starting from £24,750 and rising to £28,750.

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The Volvo XC90 premium SUV has received several exciting updates for the 2009 Model Year, including a new lower CO2 figure for the D5 Geartronic1, the introduction of the sports-inspired R-DESIGN and new exterior colours, alloy wheels and options giving buyers more choice. The new 2009 Volvo XC90 is available to order now, with first cars arriving in June. Prices for the 2009 XC90 start at £32,845 for the D5 S.

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Should Ford Motor dump Mercury and Volvo? Jerry York, the longtime adviser to billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda, which recently acquired 5.6% of Ford, seems to think so. According to Automotive News, on May 1 he said out loud what a lot of people have been quietly thinking, namely that Ford should sell its two struggling brands, Mercury and Volvo.

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While safety is likely the first thing that springs to mind when the automotive conversation turns to Volvo, the Swedish auto manufacturer would like the average person to know about its efforts to reduce its impact on the environment. To that end, Volvo has launched its 'Clean inside and out' program, which outlines everything that the automaker is trying to do in protection of the environment.

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Reducing the environmental impact of garbage is anything but a new idea, but what often seems overlooked are the actual vehicles doing the dirty-work of picking up our trash. Volvo's trying to do something about that with hybrid garbage trucks that are currently undergoing testing in Sweden. If testing goes well, Volvo plans to begin producing the hybrid trucks in 2009.

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Volvo’s Freelander rival is the star attraction on the Volvo stand at this year’s Geneva Motor Show.
The XC60 is set to go on sale in the UK in October priced from £24,500. Designers claim it’s the safest and most stylish vehicle Volvo has ever produced, so hopes are high for the new compact-SUV.

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If you want to get to work on your Volvo, you’re in luck! The S40 and V50 are the latest models to be added to Haynes’ superb maintenance range.
The new edition covers all petrol and diesel models sold from March 2004 to June 2007. Offering clear illustrations and instructions, the manual details a complete stripdown and re-assembly of one of the cars and includes close examination of others in the range.

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Designers have kept us waiting for two years, but finally Volvo has taken the wraps off the much anticipated XC60. And the SUV will go head-to-head with the Land Rover Freelander when it arrives in British showrooms in October, with prices starting from £24,500. The firm is billing the newcomer, which will be unveiled at March’s Geneva Motor Show, as the safest and most stylish vehicle it has ever produced. The XC60 was first displayed in concept form at the Detroit expo back in 2006, and most of that car’s design cues make it to production.

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While analysts sit on the edge of their seats on speculation that Ford may drop Volvo next, Volvo and Ford are talking of closer relationships, making it possible to build the Swedish cars in Ford’s U.S. plant.Currently, Volvo shares most of its components and architectures with Ford of Europe, Land Rover and Jaguar. But with the Jaguar and Land Rover sale announcement coming soon, Volvo may look to Ford’s North American supplies facilities.

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In an interview, Ichiro Sugioka, project leader of Volvo's Recharge electric car concept, says PML FlightLink is "currently working exclusively for us." If that was not clear enough, Ichiro adds "all their efforts is going into our projects." The interviewer presses for more information, even mentioning PML's relationship with Lotus, but Ichiro is very clear. You can see this exchange three minutes into the video below the fold.Why is this notable? Green car fans will recall the PML's in-wheel motors were going to be a key part of the Zap-X. I guess we should have noticed the relationship was probably over because Zap said it had some exclusive rights with PML and then PML started to work with Volvo.

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Sometimes a car is so spot-on, you don't care if it's the right size or has the best features or comes from your favorite brand. Meet Volvo's C30 T5, a royal, rollicking romp of a small, two-door car.

It is so wrong in some ways.

Seating is deliberately cut down to just four, not the five everybody else swears (wink, wink; nod, nod) you can stuff into a small car. You can't get the weather-beating all-wheel drive (AWD) that Volvo offers on its other models. (But AWD fits the C30 chassis and is likely as a future option.)

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The next incarnation of the Chevrolet Volt concept, first revealed at the 2007 NAIAS last January, is currently being developed at GM's new studio dedicated to next generation electrically-driven vehicles.
Located within GM's Advanced Design Center, which was responsible for the first Chevrolet Volt concept car, the new E-Flex Systems Design Studio will be charged with developing a variety of vehicles using the E-flex propulsion system. It will be the only studio specifically designated to designing a wide variety of electric plug-in vehicles with a range extender.

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A couple of weeks ago, when the temperatures dipped into the 40s -- or as we call it here in Southern California, the extremes of human endurance -- I went shopping in West Los Angeles. It was like base camp at Annapurna. High-heeled hotties had turned in their sex spurs for pairs of Merrell hiking boots. Guys were walking around in zero-degree quilted Marmot jackets. I'm sorry -- I just don't think crampons and bottled oxygen are necessary to make the traverse to the valet stand.

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Volkswagen aims boosts its share in the highly competitive fleet market by offering the world’s first turbocharged engines that can run on both gasoline and compressed natural gas.
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