Future products: Geely must retool Volvo plans

Ford Motor Co.'s sale of Volvo to Geely in August leaves doubt about the Swedish company's product plans. For example, all of Volvo's current range except the 9-year-old XC90 crossover makes use of Ford vehicles and components. The XC90 is based on Volvo's P2 platform and was developed before Ford ownership.

Pininfarina Sintesi

By Guy Bird Motor Shows 10 March 2008 12:03 What’s new on Pininfarina’s Geneva Motor Show stand? Italian coachbuilder and design house Pininfarina showed another stunning concept at Geneva to follow the 2005 Maserati Birdcage and 2004 Nido. The 2008 Sintesi is strictly an ‘ideas concept’ imagining a future vehicle that can communicate with other cars to avoid traffic and accidents and thus reduce the need for current passive safety requirements – like longer and heavier front noses to meet pedestrian impact laws.

Extreme sports safety kit to inspire Volvo technologies

SWEDISH car maker Volvo is aiming to develop new safety technologies based on processes used to make extreme sports safety gear. The firm has announced a partnership with POC, another Swedish company, which designs lightweight, strong and high-tech safety equipment for climbers, snowboarders, mountain bikers and other extreme sports fanatics. The initial focus will be on the relationship between cars and cyclists, with the specific aim of developing a one-way method of communicating that the driver has seen the cyclist.