Most of the news surrounding Volvo has been distinctly Geely-flavoured and word of new models and developments has remained somewhat thin on the ground, but the Swedish firm is gearing up for this year's Geneva Motor Show with the officical unveiling of its new S60.
Responsible for the stylish "revolvoution" of the company's traditional boxy designs, the Volvo S60 is an important model for the Swedish marque. Billed as the most aggressively-styled Volvo ever, the S60 maintains much of the sweeping lines and bold curves that featured on the S60 concept, which made its début at last year's Geneva Motor Show.
"The all-new Volvo S60 is sculpted to move you. It looks and drives like no other Volvo before and the car's technology will help you to be safer and more confident behind the wheel," says Stephen Odell, president and CEO of Volvo Cars.
Typical of the brand, the all-new S60 will feature groundbreaking safety features such as Pedestrian Detection - which detects pedestrians in front of the car and automatically applies the brakes if the driver does not react in to avoid a collision.
Even so, the promotional video shows that the normally conservative Swedish carmaker is hoping to turn a few heads with this new offering. The aviator-and-leather-driving-glove-wearing male model aside, the video pits the car in a barreling tunnel-run before bursting into the desert.
Set for a public unveiling at the Geneva Motor Show in March next year, production of the S60 will start mid-year 2010 and the Volvo plant in Ghent, Belgium.
In related news, Geely (which is set to conclude its $2 billion acquisition of Volvo by the end of the month) has stated that it will run Volvo as a separate entity, so as not to tarnish the marque's premium image.
In a report in the Financial Times, Geely's vice-president for international operations stated that, "We want to be careful not to damage the Volvo brand...We don't want the image of a luxury car made in a third world country. We want the image of a European luxury car, albeit owned by a Chinese owner."
In response to suggestions that getting Volvo back on its feet will be a tall order for Geely, Shen pointed out that "Geely is not fettered by 100 years of automotive history and our chief is more flexible, willing to try new ideas and learn from other countries and companies, and will provide better motivation to Volvo's management."
Despite the obvious need to ramp up Volvo production, and a raft of incentives from numerous provincial and municipal governments in China to build factories there, Shen says that Geely is reluctant to move Volvo's production and development facilities to China.
To view the S60 video, click the VIDEO tab to the top-right of the image.
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