I won't detail my complaints about the design, but the crux of it comes down to this: Volvo pricing is zero-sum. So if Volvo spends a few hundred million dollars on restyling, what came out? I still see brand new S80s and new V70s with one headlight out. Oh, please. Instead of giving us fins or some other banal style feature, why not fix the engineering and materials so this doesn't happen with each model? I have friends with S60s (honey, I shrunk the S80...design bankruptcy rarely reaches such depths) who chant the same litany of complaints that you hear with 850s and S70s.

A tale of two driveways near me: for as long as I can remember, a brand new Volvo in each driveway every year (240s, 700s, 900s, 850s, XC's, C70). Today, two Lexae, an Audi, and a used 'old' V70 acquired last week. This is hardly a complete marketing survey, but it sends a strong message to wherever Volvo gets its mixed signals from that dedicated Volvo buyers have sniffed out the brand shift and their loyalty is shifting in response. They're trying other cars they would never have given a thought to before, and they're buying them! (And by the way, the cars they're buying are better looking, without the superfluous design cues that decorate the new Volvos.)

As a singer (and designer), I have the stamina to sing this song for a long time. I'd sing it in Dearborn and Gothenburg. I'd sing it to Bill Ford's face if I had the chance. If I had the authority I'd stop singing long enough to give Peter Horbury five minutes to clear out his desk and leave the premises. But the new design is out there, so there's not much else I can do about it except make my feelings known...and hope that by the time I'm ready to buy again, Volvo will have a package that whispers 'substance' to me, instead of screaming 'style.'
--
(98 S70 T5SE misc mods, mostly lighting) (92 940GLE)