The largest automotive organisation in world, German ADAC, has carried out an extensive comparison test of different automatic speed and distance control systems.
Volvo XC60 clearly won the test in which six different models were compared.
“ADAC has carried out a total judgment which included the Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) as well as the Distance Alert and City Safety. As far as I know this is the first time a test evaluates the total effect of those safety enhancing functions,” says Jonas Ekmark, Active Safety Hub Leader at Volvo Cars.
The exceptional position of City Safety is underlined by the fact that this system is not only unique in the whole world, but it is also in mass production in the current Volvo XC60.

Source: Fleet Directory

Automotive industry, Autonomous cruise control system, Business, Control system, Makes and Models, Volvo, Volvo Cars, Volvo XC60

Volvo Car Corporation has announced that they are working on launching two new models in the next 12 months in India.

The company aims to target the growing customer base which goes for the premium luxury cars here in India.

Volvo XC60 sports utility vehicle would be launched in the first half of the year.

Volvo S60 luxury sedan would arrive by the end of the year.

Source: Tech Whack

Add new tag, Autos, India, Luxury vehicle, Makes and Models, Recreation, Volvo, Volvo Cars, Volvo XC60

The CAR QUEST team tested the New XC60 with the assistance of the Volvo Cars South Africa demonstrator, Dolf Smuts. They were extremely impressed by the New City Safety feature.

Source: All Best News

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The Volvo XC60 took first prize in the “Family Car of the Year” category in the first-ever Women’s World Car of the Year competition.

All told, 21 cars competed in four categories when eight female motoring journalists from seven countries voted for their favourite cars.

“It is naturally immensely gratifying that women appreciate the Volvo XC60 and that our product meets their requirements. With the Volvo XC60 we feel we have truly succeeded in creating a car that appeals to many different customer groups,” says Johan Rasmusson, Car Line Manager for the Volvo XC60 and XC90 at Volvo Cars.
Over the past year, eight female motoring journalists from Britain, the USA, Canada, South Africa, India, Australia and New Zealand put 21 selected cars to the test. The group and the award were created to educate the world’s car makers about female customers’ requirements.

Read the full story on Automotive.

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In tested the Volvo XC-60 Adaptive Cruise Control:

I was in our Volvo XC60 a couple days ago for an early morning drive and found it to be an effective highway cruiser. The cabin is pretty quiet at speed, the driver seat is comfortable (though not as those in other Volvos) and the turbocharged inline-6 provides plenty of grunt for passes or when going up steep grades.

I also took the opportunity to fiddle around with the adaptive cruise control. Adaptive cruise control works by monitoring the distance of vehicles ahead of you. You just set your speed and the minimum distance gap. When the XC60’s radar sensor detects a slower vehicle within that preset range, the XC60 automatically applies its brakes to adapt to that vehicle’s speed.

Our Volvo is the only long-term car in recent memory to have this feature; it’s part of the $1,700 Technology Package. Overall, the XC60’s adaptive cruise control worked well for the two hours of driving on straight highway that I used it on. It’s not a must-have feature by any means, but it is nice in that it eliminates the traditional need to cancel and reset your cruise speed every time a slower vehicle gets in your way.

The only thing I noticed was that the XC60’s cruise-speed adjustment buttons seem to bump you up or down in 5-mph increments, which is excessive. Presumably, there’s a way to switch this back to the more normal 1-mph increment, but I didn’t have the opportunity to RTFM.

Automobile, Brake, Cruise control, Driving, Recreation, Turbocharger, Volvo Cars, Volvo XC60

Swedish car manufacturer Volvo Cars which has rechristened its firm’s name to Volvo Auto India Private Limited, will be focussing on using its resources towards promoting new cars which it plans to launch in India in 2010.

Volvo Auto India which will not be participating at the Auto Expo in Delhi in January 2010, has plans to launch the 2010-spec S80 luxury sedan in India priced around Rs 38- 40 lakh. Reports in media indicate that a conatiner carrying S80 sedans is already on its way to India and is likely to hit Indian shore by beginning of January 2010. In addition, the company is also proposing to roll out XC60 compact SUV in the first half of 2010 and the S60 saloon, both of which it believes are well suited to the requirements of the Indian market.

According to Volvo, the luxury car market (comprising of cars costing Rs 25 lakh and above) in India grew by 11 per cent in 2009, while sales of Volvo cars in the country grew by 16 per cent during the year. Volvo Auto India sold 900 cars last year and expects to beat the 10 per cent increase it had earlier projected for this year.

Even after delinking its business from Ford, VCI has stated that it is quite upbeat about the country’s operations and would also be intruding its global models in a phased manner. It has also been learnt that Volvo India is keen to set up a car assembly unit in India, if its annual numbers touch 2,000 units. After established its presence in seven cities; Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Cochin, Chennai and Pune currently in India, the company is now chalking out robust strategies to enhance its dealership base to Goa, Kolkata, Bangalore and Ahmedabad and Coimbatore.

Read more: Volvo lines up S80, S60 sedan and XC60 SUV for India in 2010 – WheelsUnplugged Automobile Industry News
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Asia, Automobile, Automotive industry, Chennai, Ford Motor Company, India, Mumbai, Volvo Cars

In a well-remembered advertising campaign, Volvos were marketed as the sensible Swede.” Maybe the company should resurrect that slogan, because what’s more sensible than trying to build the world’s safest automobiles?

Keeping occupants from harm has become a religion at Volvo’s Gothenburg works, so that’s where the company directs its energies. And a lot of Volvo R&D is designed to make a vehicle that’s smarter than its driver — in some situations.

For instance, Volvo studies have found that in 50% of all collisions below 30 km/h, the driver takes no action to avoid impact. Enter the 2010 XC60 crossover, the first to get Volvo’s new City Safety low-speed-collision avoidance/mitigation system as standard equipment.

At speeds under 30 km/h, City Safety uses a laser sensor to calculate the closing rate between the XC60 and the vehicle in front. If a collision is imminent and the driver takes no action, 50% of braking power automatically is applied. Volvo saysthe

system can eliminate collisions entirely at speeds under15

km/h and lessen the severity up to 30 km/h.

City Safety sees” only large reflective surfaces and does not react to pedestrians or bicycles. Wisely, Volvo engineers have located the sensor behind the windscreen, where grunge can be cleaned away by the wipers, making the system operable in all kinds of weather.

It’s a bit of a leap of faith to put your fate in the hands of some lasers and computers. But as I find in repeated demos with an XC60 AWD, the system slows you to the point where you can safely bring the vehicle to a full stop.

Our test car also has the blind spot information system (BLIS), which is part of the AWD package. With this, an orange light glows on either outside mirror if a vehicle is approaching from the rear, and might go unnoticed. This, too, really works.

All XC60s come standard with four-wheel anti-lock brakes (ABS) with electronic brake distribution (EBD) and emergency brake assist (EBA) plus six airbags, Volvo’s side impact protection system (SIPS) and whiplash protection system (WHIPS).

Read the full review at standard-freeholder

ABS, Airbag, Anti-lock braking system, Auto, Automobile, Brake Assist, Electronic brakeforce distribution, Gothenburg, Makes and Models, Recreation, Side Impact Protection System, Volvo, Volvo Cars, Volvo XC60