It's fascinating to watch Chinese brands gradually penetrating the world market. When Geely motors of Shanghai bought the ailing Volvo brand, (the passenger car division, but not the Truck division*) I wondered if they could do a better job in re-organising Volvo than Ford had. Three years later, its still a little early to see how successful they will be, but a huge new factory in Chengdu in china should assure success in the Chinese market.
A couple of news reports today, seem to indicate some progress:
http://smh.drive.com.au/motor-news/driven-the-fastest-volvo-20130417-2hz5l.html
Thanks to this 257kW S60 Polestar production sedan being destined exclusively for Australia for the time being, we were given days of driving on public roads before most of Volvo corporation itself even knew the car existed.
And while ideas were accessed from last year's fragile concept car, the production-ready S60 Polestar isn't just fast, it's also remarkably refined. On the road it didn't put a wheel wrong: it was devastatingly quick across country but also serene and easy to imagine as everyday transport.
The 3.0-litre engine is very strong on pulling power with a larger turbocharger, re-mapped software and bigger exhaust responsible for 500Nm of torque from between 2800 and 4750rpm.
The result is lightning quick getaways that are easy to accomplish thanks to the six-speed automatic gearbox, but also an urgent rush of elastic acceleration once on the move.
There's no turbo lag, just plenty of boosted performance and it all gets down to the ground efficiently and without a hint of wheel spin thanks to the traction of the S60's all-wheel-drive system.
--------------------------------------------------------------
And, from Forbes magazine, some comment on Volvo plans in the north American market.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=e9RYAmubI2o