New Volvo XC60 Goes Into Production In Mid-April

The new Volvo XC60 powered by a 400  horsepower T8 Twin Engine gas plug-in hybrid at the top of the powertrain range delivers acceleration from 0-62 mph in 5.3 seconds. Steer Assist has been added to the City Safety system and a new safety system called Oncoming Lane Mitigation uses steer assist to help mitigate head-on collisions, while Volvo’s Blind Spot Indication System now uses Steer Assist functionality to reduce the risk of lane-changing collisions. The new XC60 is set to go into production in mid-April at the Torslanda Plant in Sweden.

Can Volvo Win Nobel U.S. Sales Comeback Prize?

Identity Crisis
Is Volvo's identity crisis slowing down sales? Bought by Chinese Geely Automobile in 2010 with the volume leading S60 and XC60 both made in Ghent, Belgium, and their biggest sales market being the United States. Does that distance the company from its headquarters in Göteborg, Sweden, where safety slogans like "We built them the way we build them because we have to" originated.
Did Volvo lose its Swedish touch?
Sweden is one of the most successful producers of top talent for its tiny population of just 9.5 million people. Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, is the namesake of the world's most respected prizes, Ikea owner Ingvar Kamprad's furniture sales has made him one of the world's richest people, Henrik Stenson, born in Volvo's hometown, just won golf's top trophies, the FedEx Cup and Tour Championship, after fighting back from two major career slumps that maybe Volvo can follow. Will Volvo take a chapter from the late Stieg Larsson's highly successful Girl With The Dragon Tattoo trilogy and go for some aggressive market share revenge?
Bi-coastal Bouncing
When Ford bought Volvo in 1999, under then-CEO Jacques Nasser, it became part of The Premier Automotive Group and in 2001 moved U.S. headquarters from Rockleigh, New Jersey, where it had been since 1964 to Irvine, California. Alan Mulally became Ford's President and CEO in September 2006, Volvo's U.S. headquarters returned to New Jersey in 2008 and Volvo was the last PAG brand to be sold off. The moves and stretch of ownership uncertainty obviously froze focus.
Management Changes
Now is Volvo rearranging the deck chairs in the wake of sinking sales in the U.S., their largest market, or hoping to relaunch with a vengeance by giving the role of acting president and CEO to Tony Nicolosi, 26 years with Volvo, who will attempt to revitalize U.S. sales with his background at Volvo Cars Financial Services? He replaces one of the most competent automotive marketing men John Maloney, who was asked to consider a senior role in Europe but, with strong ties to Southern California, decided to leave after 14 years with the company. Greg Swetoha, Executive Vice President of sales operations, has also elected to leave Volvo, despite the August news that Volvo Cars of North America ranked first among luxury brands at having dealerships that are effective at influencing the purchase, according to Foresight Research's 2013 Dealership Report. 
U.S. Sales Down
For the first nine months of 2013, Volvo's seven available U.S. models had sales of 48,193, down 6.6 percent from the same period last year. Only the XC60, with sales of 15,441, up 12.3 percent over 2012, and the volume leading S60 with 18,732, a 4.1 percent sales gain over last year, are showing increases. If U.S. sales hold steady for the last 3 months of 2013, they are on pace for sales of about 64,000 for the year, a far cry from the 2004 U.S. sales record of 140,000 vehicles.

2008 Volvo XC60 Geneva Auto Show Debut

2014 Volvo XC60

Relaunching
The popular XC60, introduced at 2008 Geneva Auto Show is said to be redesigned for 2014 which should boost sizzle and sales. They don't look a lot different but Volvo says the 2014 XC60 has a new hood, front fenders, grille design, headlight assemblies, vertically mounted LED daytime running lights, Corner Traction Control by torque vectoring with interior changes including a new instrument cluster, white illumination in buttons replaces the previous green illumination, new front door sill plates, new metal threshold for cargo area, revised automatic transmission shift knob with piano black background and illuminated symbols, to name a few. In 2010, I spent a week in the XC60 diesel driving around Southern Sweden and loved the vehicle.

The latest Volvo Concept Coupé is being touted as a Scandinavian creation. The Swedish touch, safety legacy and revitalized products will be the key to the return of a brand that sold 456,224 vehicles globally just 9 years ago.

Volvo XC60: Drove Around & Fell In Love

I fell in lust with the Volvo XC60 at the Geneva Auto Show in March of 2008 and fell in love with this one (pictured above) a few weeks ago in Sweden while driving the highways and streets around Gothenburg, the home of Volvo, which translates from Latin to "I Roll". The compact luxury SUV starts in the low-$30,000 in the U.S. and is a head turner while behind the wheel the smooth handling and polished interior appointments really grab you.

Admittedly the 'R Design' model I test drove was loaded with Volvo's safety technology like the lane departure system, park assist rear camera and collision warning.

At speeds over 20 mph, Adaptive Cruise Control can automatically maintain a safe distance from the car in front of you. Collision Warning with Auto Brake for highway driving  warns you if you’re too close to the vehicle in front of you by illuminating a red light heads up display on the front windshield. This XC60 had a power tailgate but not the navigation option which I really could have really used. I was told that even Swedes get lost in and around Gothenburg's confusing streets, not just visitors like myself. Maybe the sudden 1968 conversion from driving on left to the right may have played a role in the street layouts that have many round-a-bouts. So that old Volvo slogan, "Drive It Like You Hate It" came easy to me and the more I got lost and got mad at myself the more I liked the XC60. If you can spend all that extra unnecessary time driving around and still like the vehicle - it's a good sign.

The XC60 is the most popular Volvo in the U.S., the largest market for the Swedish automaker. The XC60 is made at Volvo's plant in Ghent, Belgium. This diesel engine version was amazingly responsive and fuel efficient. If permitted, I would have taken this exact vehicle back to California but as yet no Volvo diesels are sold here. In the U.S., the Volvo XC60 has either a 281 horsepower 3.0 liter in-line six-cylinder engine with Twin-scroll turbo or a 235 horsepower 3.2-liter in-line six-cylinder engine. The sporty R-Design version has a stiffer chassis while inside there's a metal finish with aluminum inserts in the steering wheel, door moldings and in the center stack. The sports pedals are made of brushed aluminum, with rubber inserts.

The factory tour had a number of people who were coming to pick up their new Volvo, apparently a significant saving over driving the vehicle off a dealer lot in the U.S. At the end my nearly 6 days of  excursions on less than a tank of diesel, again if I could have, I would have taken this XC60 home with me!

Volvo provided the vehicle for this review.