As part of a raft of new diesel engine initiatives for Europe, Volvo has announced a new five-cylinder, 2.0-litre turbo-diesel badged ‘D3’. The new engine is good for 101kW/350Nm and will be available in both manual and automatic transmissions for the Volvo S60, V60, V70 and S80 models.
Volvo says the current 122kW D3 diesel engine will be re-named ‘D4’.
Volvo’s on-going diesel development is paying big dividends – from next year virtually all diesel-powered versions of the S60, V60, V70 and S80 will have exhaust C02 emissions below 120g/km (the only exception is the V70 D5 at 126g/km).
As part of the changes, Volvo is re-doing its nomenclature – the specific model in each range with the lowest C02 emissions will badges ‘Drive-E’ (previously DRIVe). “From now on the DRIVe symbol will not be used for denominating specific car models since we extend Drive-E to embrace all Volvo Car Corporation’s sustainability efforts, from production to recycling,” revealed Volvo’s Peter Mertens.
Other European changes for 2013 include, for Volvo models fitted with SENSUS, ‘Road Sign Information’, ‘Active High Beam’ and ‘Tunnel Direction’. ‘Road Sign Information’ repeats road sign information in the instrument cluster display while tunnel direction automatically tuns-on the headlights when entering a tunnel.
Also upcoming are a new grille for the Volvo V70 with black highlights, a black contrast look for the 17-inch ‘Saga’ wheel fitted to Volvo V70 and S80 and a new optional 5-spoke, 18-inch aluminium wheel for S60, V60, V70 and S80.
No word yet from Volvo Cars Australia regarding local plans.
