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Volvo plans to polish its image with styling, high-tech engines

Volvo's brand image is stuck somewhere between "premium" and "luxury," but the Swedish automaker aims to move further upscale with a fresh design language and a new generation of vehicles powered by more fuel-efficient engines. New mid-sized and large models will begin arriving in 2014 based on Volvo's lightweight SPA platform. The vehicles will use Volvo's coming generation of smaller four-cylinder engines.

Hooniverse explores BMW 5-series weight gain

Our friends at Hooniverse have put together an interesting and insightful perspective on the growth of the BMW 5-series from the E28 to the new F10. Despite putting on more than 1,000 pounds, the F10's performance and fuel economy is still respectable. Overall length is up, but the interior space remains largely unchanged.

Concept Car of the Week: Renault Vel Satis (1998)

The approach to the design of top end models varies greatly depending on the manufacturer's heritage and the cultural differences of each country. It might be a conventional combination of wood and leather for some, power and technology for others, but it is generally packaged into a three-box four-door sedan or two-door fastback. Renault on the other hand had a much more cutting edge vision of what a luxury automobile could be.