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Next XC90 to use 'Thor's hammer' headlights

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Volvo continues to reveal its new XC90 SUV ahead of its official launch later in 2014.

Its latest reveals shows the vehicles' T-shaped running lights, named ‘Thor’s Hammer’ by the automaker's design team as it resembles the shape of the hammer used by the famous Norse god of thunder, Thor.

'BY THE HAMMER OF THOR'

Volvo Car Group's senior design vice-president Thomas Ingenlath said: “Anyone who looks in their rear-view mirror is going to know immediately that there is a new XC90 behind them.The XC90 is a car that has presence on the road.”

Volvo’s all-new XC90d – which will be launched in Stockholm in September 2014 – will be the first vehicle in its range to be built on the scalable product architecture (SPA) modular chassis technology developed in-house.

SPA has been under in-house development at Volvo for the past four years and is the cornerstone of the company’s ongoing R116-billion transformation plan. It will be introduced with the all-new XC90, says the automaker, and then rolled out across the product range in future.

The benefits of SPA are twofold, says Volvo. First, the flexibility of SPA liberates Volvo’s engineers and designers, allowing them to devise and introduce a wide range of new and alluring design features at the same time as improving driveability, introducing world-first safety features, offering the latest connected car technologies and creating more interior space.

Volvo's senior vice-president, research and development, Peter Merten said: “SPA and the XC90 are firm evidence of our Volvo-by-Volvo strategy. The XC90’s outstanding combination of luxury, space, versatility, efficiency and safety will bring the SUV segment into a new dimension, just as the original XC90 did in 2002.

FITTED TO SAME ARCHITECTURE

"Secondly, SPA will change the way Volvo builds cars in the future by allowing a wide range of cars, powertrains, electrical systems and technologies – all of differing complexity – to be fitted on the same architecture, generating significant economies of scale."

The new SPA chassis technology reduces weight and improves weight distribution, improving driving pleasure without compromising on ride comfort, says the automaker. SPA also allows for far more flexibility inside the car. The new XC90 features seats that free up interior space for passengers in the second and third row.

The top-of-the-range XC90 ‘twin engine’ combines a two-litre, four-cylinder supercharged and turbocharged petrol engine with an electric motor and offers an unrivalled combination of power and clean operation – around 298kW with carbon dioxide emissions of around 60g/km.
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