The Volvo S80 is a mid-size executive saloon/sedan from Swedish automaker Volvo Cars, and was introduced in 1998 to take the place of the rear-wheel drive Volvo 960/S90 saloons in the model range. The Volvo S80 was built at the Torslanda Plant (Torslandaverken) in Gothenburg, Sweden. Unlike most Volvo models, it did not have an estate / station wagon version for its first generation. Now, the third generation V70 wagon is marketed as the estate version for the second generation S80 saloon. This is a part of a major product overhaul at Volvo, including a most luxurious large estate and saloon.
The first generation was notable for being one of the first Volvos to depart from the company's traditionally very boxy, conservative styling. The S80's styling, with its pronounced beltlines and tail lights that narrow and go from curves to points as they go up, was later adopted throughout the Volvo line, especially on the S60 and S40 saloons.
The first generation Volvo S80 had one of the highest crash test ratings in the world for five years.[citation needed] The second generation Volvo S80, in June 2007, scored the highest "good" rating in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) crash test performance for frontal, side, and rear impacts, continuing in the success of the first S80 sedan, earning it the IIHS Top Safety Pick. The second generation S80 is better engineered than the previous model, in part due to a more rigid chassis.
The first generation S80 is based on the Ford D3 platform.[citation needed] More than 368,000 first generation S80s were built before the introduction of the new model. The all-new S80's styling has pronounced beltlines and tail lights that narrow and go from curves to points as they go up.
The S80 has three firsts for passenger cars. The first was the use of a built-in, fully integrated GSM phone, complete with both a hands free function and a lift-up hand-set. The second was the fitment of the straight-six engine in a transverse engine mounting. Volvo claims to be the first manufacturer to succeed in mass producing this configuration "in modern time", although this is quite false, since British Leyland produced passenger cars using the E6 engine from 1970 to 1981 in cars such as the Austin Kimberley and Austin Princess. No existing manual gearbox would fit in the engine bay with the six cylinder engine, so Volvo had to develop their own, claimed to be the world's smallest manual transmission, the M65. The previous record holder was also a Volvo gearbox, the M56 developed to fit the wide five cylinder transverse engine first used in the 850 series cars. Thirdly, the S80 was the world's first car with an environmental specification, covering aspects such as those directly relating to the car such as allergens from textiles and fuel economy and the life cycle of the car from production to dismantling.
No comments:
Post a Comment