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16 Feb 2016, 06:19 (Ref:3615038) | #1 | |
Racer
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 422
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VOLVO OUT AT END OF 2016 (NOW CONFIRMED)
Volvo Australia has announced that its Polestar range will be immediately dropped.
Volvo will now be exclusively a four cylinder maker, some turboed or supercharged The Volvo Cars World wide CEO said at Detroit Motor Show they will use high performance developed on electrification, we will use electrification as a booster, we will not start diluting our brand with big engines and extra cylinders, V8's" he said. http://www.msn.com/en-au/motoring/ne...fYrD&ocid=iehp Thinking back this ties in with press releases in December 2014 by the new Marketing Boss Alain Visser of Volvo Cars Swedish HO, that he wants to take the company out of motorsport. "Motorsport does not conform with our brand where we stand for smaller engines and safety" He implied they will honour the current agreement with Garry Rogers Motorsport until the end of 2016. |
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16 Feb 2016, 07:20 (Ref:3615041) | #2 | |
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Hmmm... crap
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16 Feb 2016, 07:32 (Ref:3615042) | #3 | |
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If they don't want to race cars they dont want to race cars, not much anyone can do. #plznocommos4gazza
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16 Feb 2016, 07:39 (Ref:3615043) | #4 | |
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Downward spiral detected.
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16 Feb 2016, 08:15 (Ref:3615045) | #5 | |
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They say no motorsport, yet they're making a comeback to WTCC?
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16 Feb 2016, 08:21 (Ref:3615047) | #6 | ||
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Not surprising, think the statement from 12 months ago was fairly to the point. And Volvo have always had a history of only having short stays witness its Group A and Super Touring efforts.
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16 Feb 2016, 08:29 (Ref:3615049) | #7 | |
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Join Date: Aug 2004
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I can only assume the WTCC fits with their 4-cylinder model
Their Group A stay was short, but Volvo's Super Touring program ran in the BTCC for 6 seasons and in Australia for 5 years, so hardly a short stay there. |
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16 Feb 2016, 23:11 (Ref:3615306) | #8 | ||
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Did they have a factory presence in the STCC? Or just private built cars ala Erebus?
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"We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true." -Robert Wilensky |
16 Feb 2016, 23:52 (Ref:3615317) | #9 | ||
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The thing that is interesting here is that Volvo Cars recently purchased the Polestar operation, or at least the road car development arm of that group.
The racing arm is known as Cyan.. and it is this brand that appears on the GRM Volvos (and their pilots) this year... the racing arm is still owned by the people who formerly owned Polestar. Unless we have missed something, Volvo AU is apparently contracted to Cyan (nee Polestar) for the supply of engines to GRM. There is no reason for this not to continue into the future, funded locally by the importer where there is ongoing commercial benefit to do so. Besides which, if the V8 isn't something Volvo wants to demonstrate, they do have access to turbo engines that may be adaptable for Gen2. |
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Go woke, Go broke… |
17 Feb 2016, 00:13 (Ref:3615319) | #10 | ||
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17 Feb 2016, 00:55 (Ref:3615328) | #11 | |
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read: we want the I4 Turbo Supercar ASAP
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. . . but I'm not a traditionalist so maybe my opinion doesn't count! -TF110 |
17 Feb 2016, 02:30 (Ref:3615337) | #12 | |||
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Quote:
Built 500 homologation cars, then took off all the homologation parts and sold them as normal 240 coupes. |
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17 Feb 2016, 03:02 (Ref:3615340) | #13 | ||
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Quote:
While they (GRM, Cyan, VCAu) may be able to join all of the other dots, Sweden will have the final say over it. |
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17 Feb 2016, 04:09 (Ref:3615345) | #14 | ||
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The boys in polestar blue have been active inside their dealer network of late.
A longstanding Sydney dealer closed their franchise before Christmas, while another was allegedly reviewed for performance and seems set to change hands shortly. Whilst in Melbourne more than one dealer has been rebranded too... Not much use spending money on promotions on the product if the distribution network is not able to deliver on the promise... Maybe |
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Go woke, Go broke… |
17 Feb 2016, 04:19 (Ref:3615347) | #15 | ||
Racer
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 422
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Quote:
If Swedish HO says no motorsport, then to me that's it. Also as Gen 2 looks like being postponed to at least 2018 (if ever) what would Volvo do in 2017? They can't race a turbo in 2017 the way it looks at the moment |
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17 Feb 2016, 04:28 (Ref:3615349) | #16 | |||
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Quote:
Or from GRM? Or are these kinds of things irrelevant too? |
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Go woke, Go broke… |
17 Feb 2016, 05:33 (Ref:3615360) | #17 | |||
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Quote:
The 2017 grid will be 20+ Commodores and a few Ford products that are no longer on the market in 2017. Man the life boats! |
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17 Feb 2016, 08:05 (Ref:3615380) | #18 | |||
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Quote:
Recall that it was a global withdrawal as a result of FISA changing the turbo equaliation formula which would have increased its weight. |
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17 Feb 2016, 08:12 (Ref:3615383) | #19 | |
Racer
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 274
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Is this and Nissan's Indecisiveness the real reason behind Gen 2 being delayed?
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17 Feb 2016, 08:46 (Ref:3615391) | #20 | |
Racer
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 103
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If GRM own the Cars and Cyan does engine prep than I see no reason why they couldnt continue with the Volvo's, Its a competitive package.
There not going to get any support from Holden if they go that way either. Last edited by scuderus; 17 Feb 2016 at 08:52. |
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17 Feb 2016, 09:53 (Ref:3615402) | #21 | |
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What we don't know are a couple of key things here;
1) How much control does Sweden have over VCAu's marketing budget? and 2) Who has the permission to sign off on the IP to race the bodyshape in V8SC? Won't be GRM or Cyan, that's for sure. |
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17 Feb 2016, 10:27 (Ref:3615406) | #22 | |
Racer
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 103
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Do they really need permission from Volvo?
Did Erebus have "official" permission from Mercedes? I would imagine it would be cheaper for GRM to continue on with the Volvo than to switch makes, unless of course that new make comes with some healthy manufactures support. |
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17 Feb 2016, 10:27 (Ref:3615407) | #23 | ||
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Join Date: Feb 2010
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A Volvo Australia marketing manager was saying quite recently that every time the Volvo did well in a V8SC race the internet inquiries on the Volvo website increased significantly. There is no doubt the last few years in V8SC has done the brand well.
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17 Feb 2016, 10:33 (Ref:3615411) | #24 | |||
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Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 2,845
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Quote:
Why does it require permission from Volvo to use their body shape. Is this a V8 Supercar requirement? There are a lot of sports sedans and speedway cars running around and not for one moment did the builders of those cars ask Munich, Tokyo, Ingolstadt, Detroit for permission. |
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"Your biggest auto race may one day become a Camaro playground", Chris Economaki, Bathurst 1979 |
17 Feb 2016, 11:05 (Ref:3615419) | #25 | |
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Erebus required permission from MBAu, just like the other manufacturers, as per V8SC rules.
I'm not certain why this is the case, but I suspect that it is simply not much more than good business ethics. |
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