sensors on their latest cars can even figure out if the car is headed towards an accident and actually activate protection systems. And the fanaticism moves towards pedestrians as well, car hoods with airbags for example. But all this does not come cheap and Volvo Cars is currently owned by Chinese carmaker Zhejiang Geely, who bought the company from Ford in 2010 who themselves had acquired the carmaker in 1999. Volvo executives today feel Ford’s confused strategy at Volvo because they also owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). This was despite the success of the first-generation Volvo XC90 manufactured in that period. Ford, in fact, sold Volvo for a loss of two-thirds of the amount they invested, if depreciation is accounted for. Ford lost close to 90 per cent of what they had invested. The new management has been able to script a turnaround, which albeit much less dramatic than that of JLR, has been rather successful. One reason for the success is a more coherent model plan. Volvo’s new model plan is going to be based around a small car, the 40-series; a medium car, the 60-series and a large car, the 90-series. The small car is being developed alongside Geely, and the bigger cars are a Swedish project. Yet, in a very Swedish sort of way, Volvo has played around with the S60 sedan, and raised it off the ground. In
effect, they have created the sedan version of an SUV, and they call it the S60 Cross-Country. On the back roads, where the road surface is questionable, it is a very nice car. It is a luxury sedan, is spacious and has all the features one would expect in a car of that class. The interior, particularly the infotainment system, does feel a bit dated, but the S60CC is currently priced very attractively around `40 lakh. The S60CC does turn heads but the Volvo car that really commands attention is the new XC90. The previous XC90 was known as a practical threerow car and the new one keeps up the trend but with an attractive look and amazing interiors. The old Volvo console as seen on the S60CC has a very attractive “waterfall” look to it but has too many controls. So Volvo has installed an iPad sort of controller in the central console. Everything can be done from this console, from air-conditioning controls to music and maps. Only Audi’s excellent MMI system with the virtual cockpit is in the same league. The XC90 also has another aspect of Volvo’s rather comprehensive new philosophy, they have moved to two simple engine types, one in petrol and one in diesel. And these simple engines they
EXOTICA [76] AUGUST 2016