But then, *why should* anything have "followed" the V70?!?

Post #23,476 by CRConrad 1/8/02 10:40:17 AM Reply	But then, why should anything have "followed" the V70?!? Aren't they selling it in the States at the moment, so you didn't know it was still around (or, is around again, if you will) -- or had you just not noticed that they've replaced the old (renamed 850) "V70" with an all-new (S80-derived) one last year or so? Or is it that you don't agree with (or hadn't fully grokked) their recent model strategy, and want the wagons to carry the same model number as the sedans, in stead of this interleaving tactic (S60, V70, S80, V[X]90) they're using nowadays? If so, why? I think I see why they're doing it -- they want to shed their all-estate image and give the sedans a chance to shine on their own by differentiating them from the wagons -- and I suspect it has a good chance of working. Look for the new V50 (and after that, a new S40 sedan) at a Volvo dealer close to you sometime soon, is my prediction... :-) What's wrong with that? Christian R. Conrad The Man Who Knows Fucking Everything
Post #23,494 by a6l6e6x 1/8/02 11:51:51 AM Reply	Re: But then, why should anything have "followed" the V70? In the past, there have been sedan/wagon pairings in a line (e.g. 850 sedan/850 wagon, S70/V70, S40/V40). My '98 S70 has a tunnel from front to back (with a hump on the floor for back seat passengers) that is only needed for the drive shaft of the 4 wheel drive wagon. That's how they get manufacturing economies. Disregarding the public nomenclature of models, it would be folly to have a totally distinct chassis for each vehicle model. I expected a V80 mate for the S80 and V60 mate for the S60. But no, they keep selling the V70 long after the S70 has been replaced. Perhaps I have not looked closely, but the V70 being sold now does not appear to be S80 based. So, the V70 looks like a placeholder for folks that just need to have a large Volvo wagon. My expectation is that the V70 will vanish soon and the SUV will fill that spot. Alex Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction. -- Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
Post #23,502 by CRConrad 1/8/02 12:24:50 PM Reply	Nope, it ain't gonna vanish - not anytime soon, anyway. They're intentionally trying to get away from that "pairing" by staggering their models (with steppings in overall size corresponding to those in model number); it ain't going to be the old way no more. The new V70 (sure, it looks pretty much like the old one -- but then, this is Volvo, spelled c-o-n-s-e-r-v-a-t-i-v-e, we're talking about! :-) is based on a shortened S80 platform. (Which coincidentally puts it size-wise pretty much exactly where its predecessor was.) So, no, they didn't "keep selling the V70 long after the S70 has been replaced" -- the V70 was replaced too, only you didn't notice yet. All that remains to be seen whether the V50 I'm so (perhaps over-)confidently predicting will be based on a shrunken S60 platform, or a stretched S40 one. Or perhaps the next-generation S40 will be based on a shortened V50 platform. (Which will thus be a twice-shortened S60 platform! :-) Whatever... [From the Dept of Further Over-Confident predictions:] If they do anything with the SUV, it won't be to replace the V70, but to rip off the plastic Jeepy-bits, lower (and maybe stretch?) it a little, and slot it in as a V90 estate above the S80 in their line-up. (And yes, Swedish car magazines have been mumbling about a possible future "S100" Über-Volvo sedan to top off the range, for years already.) Christian R. Conrad The Man Who Knows Fucking Everything

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