Will Volvo make a smart move?

Went to see the new 2004 Prius yesterday which had just arrived at the
dealer. Truly a futuristic car in every aspects! Too bad Volvo is still
lagging behind! By narrowing theit market to sport/luxury, they may very
well paint themselves in a corner...

Richard Bouchard.

 

Look at the all "new" S40 and on Dec 3 the "new" V50.!

 

That's exactly my point : Sporty, luxury cars... What else?

Richard Bouchard.



"Robert J. Veldkamp" a écrit :

 

; That's exactly my point : Sporty, luxury cars... What else?
;
; Richard Bouchard.
;

SUV, Coupe, more coming up.........soon

Regards,

;
;
; "Robert J. Veldkamp" a écrit :
; >
; > Look at the all "new" S40 and on Dec 3 the "new" V50.!

Metaxaman

 

Those were the trends of five years ago, at least in North America. The
SUV and minivan were pronounced dead last year in Detroit and this year
the hybrid and other non-fuel technology vehicles are the real
head-turners. Everyone has aggreed to say that there's a major turning
point ahead. I feel Volvo is about to miss the train. They'll probably
hop up later and incorporate some Ford-developped technology and that's
too bad because they will lose their reputation as a looking ahead car
manufacturer.

Sad.

Richard Bouchard.


Metaxaman a écrit :

 

Hard to believe since those vehicles are their big profit makers, can
you cite the source of your statement?

 

Every paper accounting this year's trends mention it (this is the auto
show season). Of course they will not give up on the cash machine: they
came up with a new vehicule category: the hybrid, or multi-usage
vehicule or whatchacallit. It's a crossover between a SUV and a minivan
(some, as the Chrysler Pacifica, the new Ford of which I can't remember
the name and yes, the XC90, can carry up to 7 peoples), but with the
size, feeling and handling of a car: Nissan Murano, Infitini FX35, Lexus
LX330 are other examples (in that respect, when I look around at the
traffic, I don't feel the design of my brick is outdated at all). The
hybrid (fuel-electric) and hydrogen technologies are intended to go into
these vehicles first. Since these are big profit-makers, of course the
cost of introducing a new technology is attenuated. The Prius is for now
an exception. Hybrid systems are due in next year's Lexus LX330 and Ford
Escape.


Richard.

"127.0.0.1" a écrit :

 

With Ford's forcing their supply chain to cut 3-5% in costs every year
(nice how they can demand it suddenly be cheaper), expect every brand
owned by them to suffer greatly in quality. This new 40 series is going
to be a bunch of thin sheetmetal and plastic.

 

That's exactly my point : Sporty, luxury cars... What else?

Richard Bouchard.


That's what a lot of people want, including myself. Personally I'd love to
see them go back to the boxy RWD designs with added creature comforts, but I
know that won't happen for a while, the bubble mobile seems here to stay for
a while.

 

Every paper accounting this year's trends mention it (this is the auto
show season). Of course they will not give up on the cash machine: they
came up with a new vehicule category: the hybrid, or multi-usage
vehicule or whatchacallit. It's a crossover between a SUV and a minivan
(some, as the Chrysler Pacifica, the new Ford of which I can't remember
the name and yes, the XC90, can carry up to 7 peoples), but with the
size, feeling and handling of a car: Nissan Murano, Infitini FX35, Lexus
LX330 are other examples (in that respect, when I look around at the
traffic, I don't feel the design of my brick is outdated at all). The
hybrid (fuel-electric) and hydrogen technologies are intended to go into
these vehicles first. Since these are big profit-makers, of course the
cost of introducing a new technology is attenuated. The Prius is for now
an exception. Hybrid systems are due in next year's Lexus LX330 and Ford
Escape.


Richard.


Seems when I looked at the Prius I thought hmm, interesting technology, but
then the fuel economy was about 50 mpg, much better than the average Volvo
of course, but then it's a much lighter car. My family had an '82 Topaz
Diesel that could do almost 60 mpg on the highway and that was over 20 years
ago, it had decent performance too, not nearly as sluggish as most older
diesels. I don't see the new hybrids as being all that impressive with
today's technology, I would expect things to have improved to >100 mpg by
now.

 

In Europe/UK Volvo produce "Bi-Fuel" cars with LPG/Petrol (Gasoline) systems.
They have produced these for a couple of years now. There is experimentation
with LPG enhanced Diesels.

Cheers, Peter.


Every paper accounting this year's trends mention it (this is the auto
show season). Of course they will not give up on the cash machine: they
came up with a new vehicule category: the hybrid, or multi-usage
vehicule or whatchacallit. It's a crossover between a SUV and a minivan
(some, as the Chrysler Pacifica, the new Ford of which I can't remember
the name and yes, the XC90, can carry up to 7 peoples), but with the
size, feeling and handling of a car: Nissan Murano, Infitini FX35, Lexus
LX330 are other examples (in that respect, when I look around at the
traffic, I don't feel the design of my brick is outdated at all). The
hybrid (fuel-electric) and hydrogen technologies are intended to go into
these vehicles first. Since these are big profit-makers, of course the
cost of introducing a new technology is attenuated. The Prius is for now
an exception. Hybrid systems are due in next year's Lexus LX330 and Ford
Escape.


Richard.

"127.0.0.1" a écrit :

 

They already do. The new S40/V50 will share the C1 platform with the
Mazda 3 and European Ford Focus. That isn't necessarily a bad thing...

 

They tried to build a hybrid 850, didn't like the prototype, and
abandoned the idea.
That might be just as well, when you consider how well Volvo does electrical
stuff. ;-)


--






http://www.albany.net/~mjc1/index.html

 

So let me ask you all this: If Volvo brought back the 240 (with some
updated features but otherwise the same car) would you buy it?

I mean, my 240 Turbo is a luxury sedan, a jeep, an SUV, a light truck,
and a sports car. It's also 20 years old so, while many of its parts
are now old and much of the polish has lost its lustre, it has
demonstrated that a well built car can serve you for a very very long
time (I'll eat my hat if an S-anything lasts 20 years).

But to offer a 240 Turbo now with all the extras (trimmings AND
mechanical features) it might cost $40K or more. Would you buy one?

I can say in a heartbeat that I would. Trend or no trend, there must
always be a market for sturdy reliability and comfort. I recently
heard that at least a few of the 240 assembly plants around the world
were shut down rather than re-tooled...could they be fired up again?

Wishful thinking, perhaps, but I think THAT would be the smartest move
of all.
Blurp

 

Would I buy a new one? Probably not, but I wouldn't buy a *new* anything. I
would however look into buying one that was 4-5 years old if such a thing
existed, unfortunatly the newest 240 anywhere is a decade old, and they
haven't been available with a turbo in 18 years.

Granted they have a niche market, people who own them love them, people who
don't generally can't understand the appeal. That said, virtually everyone
who's driven mine wants one.

 

Never.

I can't imagine buying another rwd vehicle. I certainly don't want to
go back to having to carry spare fuel pumps and wrenches around in the
trunk. I do miss the squeal of the AC fan. A car just doesn't seem
like a Volvo without the AC fan squealing. The main reason for dropping
the 200 series was to increase safety and that is the main reason I
started buying Volvos. I would never go back to the safety level
afforded by the 200 series design when such major advances have been
made by the newer designs
..

 

You're kidding, right?
RWD vehicles, what are BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Honda (S2000), Nissan,
Lexus, et. al. thinking? Spare fuel pumps? I replaced one in the last
15 years of owning 240s, never considered keeping a "spare" (fuel pump
relays on the otehr hand I keep in the glove box). The blower motor...
I'll give you that one.
As far as safety, the 240 as the "zero fatality" vehicle even without
airbags, SIPS. Not that there haven't been design improvements in
energy absorbing crumple zones and impact load distribution but I
suspect that the 240 is still better than many "clean sheet" new
designs. An "updated" 240 (much like Porsche has done with the 911,
recognizable but a brand new design) might be interesting but the main
factor killing off the 240 was proft (FWD is usually cheaper and the
newer models were designed with reduced manufacturing costs in mind.)

Bill

 

Yeah I dunno where he got that information, RWD is a blast IMO, I've driven
both and can't think of any compelling reason for FWD but lots of reasons
against it. I replaced my first fuel pump a few months ago, the car was
almost 20 years old with close to 200k on it, that's about as long as I'd
expect any pump to last, though we've got an '86 with 220k on the original
still, engine has never been opened up, runs like new. Blower motor is now
squeeling a bit in the morning but it gave 16 years of trouble free service.

As for safety, the 240 is still arguably one of the safest cars on the road.
Volvo has likely made some advances but compared to other stuff out there,
I'd rather be in a 240 than just about any other make of car in an accident.

 

Yeah I dunno where he got that information, RWD is a blast IMO, I've
driven

Unless you're somewhere with a lot of snow I guess...

We had a 240 (DL Estate Auto) from when I was 3 to about 13 - a good 10
years. We only changed it when the cylinder head cracked, and it was no
longer economical to repair (well, it probably would have been, but it'd
done nearly 250,000 miles, and we needed a change! The bodywork was pretty
good, and the garage repaired it and it did go back on the road!). In that
time very little went wrong... the fuel pump went maybe 5 years after we got
it (8 years into its life) and it had a horrible habit of refusing to start
when the weather got hot! Still, it had character, and despite it being as
economical as a Challenger 2 tank (and nearly as big) it did us well.

It would have been nice with PAS... and even better if when you put your
foot down it actually moved - maybe we needed the turbo! Otherwise it was
great!!

Mark

 

That's all in the tires, well that and driver skill, not nessesarly more
skill than FWD, just different skill, the car will definitly behave much
differently but put on a set of good snow tires and stick a couple sandbags
in the back in a plastic tub and it'll go just about anywhere. Good weight
ballance and high ground clearance, I can't count the number of trucks and
SUV's in ditches I've driven past, a well setup 240 feels sure footed and
unstoppable.