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Volvo confirms entry to V8 Supercars in 2014

Volvo Polestar Racing

Volvo surprised nobody when they officially announced their entry into V8 Supercars today. Volvo Polestar Racing will join Australia’s premier motorsport category in 2014.

The newly created team is being described as a factory-backed outfit, but will draw on the experience of Garry Rogers Motorsport to provide the foundations. Volvo will race two S60 badged creations, conforming to the Car of the Future regulations.

In a prepared statement Christian Dahl, Polestar owner, said: “We are very proud and excited to take on the V8 Supercars together with Volvo Car Australia and Garry Rogers Motorsport, a championship that has grown to become one of the most prestigious and competitive racing championships in the world.”

It’s a homecoming of sorts for Volvo, who won the Bathurst 1000 in 1998 during the 2.0 litre Super Tourer era with Jim Richards and Rikard Rydell. Longtime, or perhaps that should be, ageing Aussie motorsport fans will also recall Robbie Francevic’s 240T, aka ‘The Flying Brick’, which took him to the 1986 Australian Touring Car Championship.

We’ve been critical of the Con of the Future regulations aimed at breaking the Ford–Holden duopoly. With Nissan and Mercedes-Benz already taking the bait, we may need to start eating our words.

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Volvo fantasy league – The video

Volvo C30 Polestar Concept

This video review of the Volvo C3 Polestar Performance Concept is a welcome complement to the text based feedback we got last month. Seeing the car move around the track and hearing its exhaust note bring a new dimension to the madness that is this car. Mike Duff from Autocar was the lucky one who got to throw the C30 around Volvo’s Gothenburg proving ground. It wasn’t long until he started throwing around words like “Evo” and “GT-R”. Meanwhile, here at AUSmotive HQ, we’ve started throwing around words like “build it Volvo” and “now”.

Oh, at idle that 400bhp five pot sounds a bit ordinary. But once the C30 is moving and the engine is snarling it sounds superb.

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Volvo fantasy league

Volvo C30 Polestar concept

You know how those fantasy football league things work. You try and cram Rooney, Drogba and Torres up front, with Terry, Vidic and Vermaelen down back. In the midfield you somehow have to find the cash for Lampard, Fabregas and Gerrard. It’s a tough ask, to be sure, but Volvo have had a crack at doing the same thing with their C30 Polestar Concept.

You’ll remember the car first showed its bright blue face at the Gothenburg Motor Show last month. In case you missed it, up front the fireworks are provided by a 400bhp 2.5 litre turbo in line five cylinder. Yes, that’s right—four hundred horespower! Defence is bolstered by Brembo brakes and race-inspired Ohlins suspension. Mid-field distribution is handled by a specially tuned Haldex all-wheel drive system.

Sounds stark raving mad, doesn’t it. So how does it drive? Well, I’m glad you asked, because the Euro motoring press have just been handed the keys, pointed to a closed track and told to give that Swedish smurf a jolly good seeing to.

Autocar reckon: “On Volvo’s tight, cresty test track in Gothenburg it delivered an impressively lashed-down driving experience, with massive adhesion, telepathic steering and a neutral chassis balance that makes it easy to find the sweet spot between understeer and (mild) oversteer.”

Top Gear says: “It is fast. Worryingly fast. One of the very quickest small things we’ve ever driven. Polestar says the C30 recorded a 0-62mph time of 4.6 seconds… and that was going easy on the transmission. They reckon a full-bore test would see it go close to four seconds flat. It’ll lap Volvo’s test track quicker than an Evo X… and within a few seconds of Volvo’s C30 touring car.”

Impressive. It’s not all fun and games though with reports suggesting the car is a little off production standard. Which is possibly why we may never see this Concept make it into Volvo showrooms. As a vehicle to announce the Polestar brand as Volvo’s in-house tuning specialist, though, the C30 Polsetar Concept is kicking goals from all over the park.

There’s a new video after the break, too, which is pretty much the same as the one already posted here, but with English sub-titles for the Swedish interviewees.

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VIDEO: Volvo C30 Polestar Performance Concept

Volve C30 Polestar

Following today’s earlier post about the Volvo C30 Polestar Performance Concept comes this brief YouTube clip (see below). Sadly there is no driving footage showcasing just how effective this car and its 300kW+ could be.

So that means its interviews and polite press stuff, and unfortunately most of the interviews are in Swedish. However, there is one sound bite in English available that reveals we could be seeing more of the Polestar brand from Volvo in the future. Based on what we’ve seen today this could be a very good thing indeed.

[Thanks to Jason for the tip]

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Volvo C30 Polestar Performance Concept

Volvo C30 Polestar

Three hundred kilowatts plus… Five hundred and ten Newton metres of torque… Haldex all-wheel drive… Yeah, I want one too!

Whichever way you look at Volvo’s slightly oddball C30 those numbers are massive. The power comes courtesy of Polestar Performance who are the outfit behind Volvo’s Swedish Touring Car Team. The theory behind the car is to see what happens when a bunch race engineers shift their focus from the track to the road.

Further to those highlight figures at the start, the C30 Polestar Performance Concept also includes a larger turbo, uprated pistons and conrods, as well as a revised camshaft. Keeping the Haldex naysays partially at bay is the news that mechanical diffs from Quaife can be found at the front and rear. Ohlins suspension and a revised steering rack help liven up handling. Bright blue paint and some 19″ BBS wheels help set the car off very nicely. Even the body kit looks the business (from this photo at least). Braking is helped along with a performance Brembo package featuring six-pot calipers and 380mm rotors up front, with a four-pot 330mm combo at the rear.

The C30 Polestar Performance Concept is currently on show at the Gothenburg Motor Show. Volvo’s press release after the break.

[Extra pics: automotorsport.se & The Car Lounge]

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Volvo

Volvo S60 Concept

Volvo S60 Concept

It’s a Volvo Jim, but not as we know it. The swooping lines, dramatic curves and brooding stance of the S60 Concept bring a new visual language to the Volvo brand. This is a beautiful design solution.

While the design may not be pure Volvo, the development of the car’s safety credentials are true to the brand’s core values. The car features a new Collision Warning system, which incorporates a Full Auto Brake and pedestrian detection system, designed to react when a pedestrian walks out in front of a car. The system will activate the car’s full braking power if the driver does not respond to the danger.

The new S60 is scheduled to go on sale in 2010 and Thomas Broberg, safety expert at Volvo Cars, has high expectations for the family sized saloon’s Collision Warning capabilities, “The previous stages were developed to help the driver avoid collisions with other vehicles. Now we are taking a giant step forward with a feature that also boosts safety for unprotected road-users,” explains Thomas Broberg, safety expert at Volvo Cars.

“What is more, we are now advancing from fifty percent to full automatic braking power. To our knowledge, none of our competitors have made such progress in this area. This technology helps us take an important step towards our long-term vision of designing cars that should not crash,” he added.

Briberg’s confidence in his product seems to know no bounds, leading to this extraordinary claim, “Our aim for 2020 is that no one should be killed or injured in a Volvo car.”

Wow, that sounds like a claim only a desperate politician will make. Volvo Australia would neither confirm or deny plans to employ Bob Hawke in a PR role!

Other innovations found in the S60 Concept include a new fuel efficient 1.6 litre diesel GTDi engine and sliding rear doors. Although, in profile view the doors look similar to suicide doors found in the Rolls Royce Phantom, they pop out and slide backwards, parallel to the car’s body in a fashion one would expect on a people mover.

Also included in the concept model is a pretty wild Orrefors crystal centre stack, housing HVAC controls. Quite how that stands up to a crash test is anyone’s guess. I’m tipping that won’t make the production model.

The S60 Concept is due for a full public release at the Detroit Auto Show in mid January 2009. More pics and full press statements after the jump. If you’ve got the patience for creative PR blurb, read the last release below, it’s a pearler!

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