The Volvo Pictures

With the 2009 Auto Show just about the corner in Geneva, more and more manufacturers are teasing us with images and specs. Volvo does the same. They’ve just announced that for next week’s show the company is preparing to bring in a stylish facelifted Volvo S80. Featuring a larger grille with a more prominent Volvo logo, chrome trimmed front air intakes and stylish cues, the new S80 will probably win you over with its elegant interior. Blessed with a twin-turbo five-cylinder 2.4-liter turbo-diesel engine that sports 205 hp and 420 Nm of torque and a lowered sport chassis, we’re definitely in for a test drive. Volvo, call us!

Volvo produces models ranging from SUVs, wagons, and sedans to compact executive sedans and coupes. With 2,500 dealerships worldwide in 100 markets; 60 percent of sales come from Europe, 30 percent from North America, and the other 10 percent is from the rest of the world.Volvo's market share is shrinking in the North American market. However, Volvo increased its market share in new markets such as Russia, China and India.Specifically, Volvo expected sales in Russia to double and exceed 20,000 units by the end of 2007, making Russia one of the ten biggest markets for the company. Volvo already boasts the leading position in Russia's luxury car segment.Older models were often compared to tractors, partly because Volvo AB was and still is a manufacturer of heavy equipment, earlier Bolinder-Munktell, now Volvo Construction Equipment. Considered by some to be slow and heavy, they earned the distinction "brick" as a term of endearment for the classic, block-shaped Volvo, with the more powerful turbo charged variants known as "turbobricks".[5] More recent models have moved away from the boxy styles favored in the 1970s and 1980s and built a reputation for sporting performance, but not before the phenomenal success of factory-supported Volvo 240 turbos winning both the 1985 European Touring Car Championship (ETC) and 1986 Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC).Owners are often proud of achieving prodigious mileages with one well-documented 1966 Volvo P1800S having been driven over 2.6 million miles. According to some figures the average age of a Volvo being discarded is 19.8 years, second only to Mercedes.Reliability is considered better than average and in the USA Volvo dealers are listed by Forbes as the 9th best general car manufacturer and 6th best for luxury cars.

The Ford New Escape

The Ford New Escape

The new Escape, in showrooms this summer, will add MyKey™ teen-safety technology, Integrated Spotter Mirrors – both offered standard (MyKey on XLT and above models) – optional Rear View Camera System and SYNC with real-time Traffic, Directions and Information. The new model also will be the North America’s first SUV to offer Active Park Assist, which uses an ultrasonic-based sensing system and Electric Power Assisted Steering (EPAS) to position the vehicle for parallel parking, calculate the optimal steering angle and quickly steer the vehicle into a parking spot.

Ford is in the process of revamping nearly its entire lineup of SUVs, and from the looks of our latest spy photos the 2008 Ford Escape is next in line for upgrades. Although it doesn't appear to be a full redesign, the 2008 Escape will update its front-end styling to match the 2007 Ford Expedition. Larger headlights and a three-bar grille are the biggest changes, although the lower fascia and front wheel arches look as though they have been slightly revised as well.

Caught alongside the Escape prototype was a revamped version of its twin — the Mazda Tribute. It still wore heavy camouflage up front, but it's clear that the Tribute will be getting a nose job, too. Its lights don't look much different than the current model, but the shape of the grille is clearly different. Rear shots of the Tribute reveal only minor changes. The rear window is now rectangular, the chrome trim piece is a little bigger and the badges have swapped sides.

The Suzuki Neo Baleno

The Suzuki Neo Baleno

To face a world that continues to change. Suzuki Neo Baleno menghadiran a sedan that is a revolutionary development of 'DNA Crossover' which combines style with the sporty elegance typical Japanese Europe. WE Cross THEM OVER

The Holden Monaro

The Holden Monaro

Originally introduced with the HK range as a two-door hardtop coupe, the Monaro is a name uniquely etched into the psyche of any Australian motoring enthusiast. Finding success at Mount Panorama, and at the sales desks of Holden dealerships around the country, the Monaro was a symbol of everything that was great about Australia. Powerful, individual and jingoistic, the Monaro was the envy of many young car enthusiasts through the 1970’s.

Fans of the Falcon GT and Valiant Charger may have derided the Monaro, but it was because of the competition, both on the race track and at the showroom, that 1970’s Australia offered such a wonderful array of quality performance machinery. They were always highly desirable, and inevitably they became highly collectable. Will the lucky owners of the V2 and VZ Monaro’s appreciate they are merely “breaking in” the collectables of tomorrow. We hope so.

The Monaro is an automobile which was produced by Holden, the Australian branch of General Motors from 1968 to 1977 and then re-introduced onto the Australian and New Zealand markets in 2001. It was discontinued in late 2005. Since 1968, three generations of the Monaro have been produced.

The Holden Camira Pictures

The Holden Camira Pictures

He Holden Camira was a mid-size car produced by Holden, the Australian subsidiary of General Motors (GM) between 1982 and 1989. It was Holden's version of GM's J-body family of cars—GM's third "global" car platform. After an initial good sales run, Camira sales dropped significantly, and was discontinued in 1989. The Holden Apollo, a rebadged Toyota Camry was introduced as the Australian market replacement, with New Zealand instead offering the European-sourced Opel Vectra. In all 151,807 Camiras were built. The original Camira, the JB series, was introduced in 1982 with a major trans-Tasman marketing campaign. The Camira replaced the Sunbird and Torana, although an interim four-cylinder version of the Commodore bridged the two-year production gap.

A station wagon version was introduced the following year, and its bodywork was exported to Vauxhall in the United Kingdom for the Cavalier wagon.[2] Some Camiras were also exported to right-hand drive markets in Southeast Asia, such as Indonesia and Singapore. The wagon variant was specifically a Holden design, and was actually a major demand Holden had in the overall "J-car" program. A five-door hatchback, based on the Opel Ascona/Vauxhall Cavalier "J-car" was proposed for the Camira, however due to Holden's financial losses at that time it never made production. There was only one engine, the carburettored, naturally-aspirated, transversely-mounted 1.6 litre four-cylinder engine delivering 64 kilowatts (86 hp). The transaxle offering was a four-speed manual on the SL and SL/X, with a five-speed unit specified to SJ and SL/E variants. A three-speed automatic with lockup torque converter was optional on the base model, but standard on the SL/E.

The Camira was Wheels magazine's Car of the Year for 1982. While superior to most other cars of the day in terms of ride and handling, the 1.6 litre Camtech engine was regarded as "underpowered" by much of the motoring media, and the Camira suffered from a litany of quality control issues which included smoking engines in early models, lack of drainage holes in the doors, paint quality and lack of adequate fan cooling resulting in overheating in Camiras fitted with air conditioning. This tarnished the Camira's reputation. Camira first came out as the JB series in August 1982 and promptly received a car of the year award, mainly because the judges loved its Euro-like handling and feel. A world car in the General Motors empire, it was built in Australia but carried a fair bit of imported design. This meant that in some ways it wasn’t totally suited to local conditions, particularly in the outback.

These mid-size Holdens have a good cabin with space for four/five adults if they don’t mind juggling the seats to make space for one another. There’s a large luggage area, with the Camira station wagon being a particularly good load carrier. In November 1984, while it was still flying high on the new-car scene, the Camira received a rather controversial sloped-nose facelift for the JD version. Holden backed off and the shape became more conventional in style with the JE in April 1987. Initially all Camiras were four-door sedans. In April 1983 a spacious five-door station wagon was added to the range. Interestingly, the wagon was an Australian design (the sedan was penned overseas) and all wagon rear ends were built here, even those sold in European markets.

The Holden Torana Pictures

The Holden Torana Pictures

The Holden Torana was a car produced by General Motors–Holden's, the Australian subsidiary of General Motors (GM). The name comes from an Aboriginal word meaning "to fly". It had its origins in the British Vauxhall Vivas of the mid 1960s. The first Torana appeared in Australia in 1967, and the four-cylinder versions of the Torana became known as the Holden Sunbird in 1976. In 1979, the Torana was phased out, followed by the Sunbird in 1980.

The next generation of Toranas appeared in October 1969 and were available with either a four or six cylinder engine. The inline six had a capacity of 138 in. The six-cylinder cars had a longer wheelbase of four-cylinder models, a more aggressively styled slightly longer nose to accommodate the larger engine, and offered a choice of three and four-speed manual gearbox or a three-speed Trimatic automatic transmission. The Torana was Wheels magazine's Car of the Year for 1969.

Body styles were all new and available in either two or four doors, and were offered in S or SL trim. Bench or bucket front seats were also an option, along with disc front brakes. A more-powerful 161 in³ engine was made available soon after the model's release in the more upmarket SL and in the two-door sports model, the GTR, as a 2600S with a two-barrel Stromberg WW carburettor. Later in production, the 161ci engine was replaced with a larger 173ci version (badged as the '2850') which also made it into the last of the LC GTR cars in two-barrel form.

In 1970 the first genuine performance Torana, the GTR XU-1, was developed by Holden along with Harry Firth of the Holden Dealer Team for competition in popular Series Production racing series in Australia as well as in off-road rallying. However, the main purpose of the Torana GTR XU-1 was to keep Holden competitive against the big and powerful Ford Falcon GT-HO V8s in the Hardie-Ferodo 500 (Bathurst) endurance race that is considered to be the jewel in the crown of Australian motorsport.

Holden Car

Holden Car

GM Holden Ltd is an Australian automaker based in Port Melbourne, Victoria. The company was originally independent, but since 1931 has been a subsidiary of General Motors (GM). Holden has taken charge of vehicle operations for GM in Australasia and, on behalf of GM, holds partial ownership of GM Daewoo in South Korea. Over the years, Holden has offered a broad range of locally produced vehicles, supplemented by imported GM models. In the past, Holden has offered badge engineered Isuzu, Nissan, Suzuki and Toyota models in sharing arrangements, with Chevrolet, Daewoo and Opel-sourced models sold currently.

Holden bodyworks are manufactured at Elizabeth, South Australia, and engines are produced at the Fishermens Bend plant in Port Melbourne, Victoria. Historically, production or assembly plants were operated in all mainland states of Australia: Acacia Ridge, Queensland; Dandenong, Victoria; Mosman Park, Western Australia; Pagewood, New South Wales; and Woodville, South Australia. Until 1990, GM's New Zealand subsidiary Holden New Zealand operated a plant based in Trentham, with a plant in Petone running until 1984. The consolidation of car production at Elizabeth was completed in 1988, but some assembly operations continued at Dandenong until 1996. Although Holden's involvement in exports has fluctuated since the 1950s, the declining sales of large cars in Australia has led the company to look to international markets to increase profitability; in 2006, exports alone accounted for almost AU$1.3 billion in earnings.

GM Holden has issued a safety recall for Holden VE Commodore, Holden WM Statesman and Holden Caprice, involving around 13,000 vehicles. The recall is in relation to a potential issue regarding rear seat belt buckles. No customer cases have been reported but Holden is taking this action on advice from the relevant buckle supplier after the issue was detected during routine testing at the Holden Proving Ground.

The new Holden VZ Monaro has stirred up a bit of controversy among the car fanatics. With the new twin bonnet scoops on the front end of the vehicle some say its absolutely wonderful and others say that its horrible and in bad taste. However, I feel that the new bonnet scoops actually add a flare to the vehicle giving it a much more powerful look. Whether its good or bad, you will definitely get peoples attention when you drive by them. I feel that most people will appreciate the edgy design instead of looking at it as a flaw. Aside from the cosmetic changes, the new VZ Monaro features some great mechanical changes as well. Given the history of the Monaro I am hoping that this new update will do the name justice.