Wagon points to future of Volvo

By ALASTAIR SLOANE

The Volvo Cross Country, like the Subaru Outback, will pretty much go anywhere in New Zealand, save for the worst of off-road conditions.

Even then, experienced drivers can usually back off and find an alternative route to tipy-toe around the rough stuff, making use of extra ride height.

Both vehicles are all-rounders. They look like a car, feel like a car and drive like a car. The popular term these days is soft-roaders.

Subaru started the trend with the Outback. Volvo followed it with the Cross Country, and Audi is soon to join the club with the Allroad.

The latest Cross Country is Volvo's second-generation soft-roader. But it won't be its last. Volvo is planning a handful of new lifestyle and sporty models to help lift by 50 per cent its 425,000 sales a year.

Spearheading its expansion is former BMW engineering chief Wolfgang Reitzle, the head of the Premier Automotive Group, the executive Ford division which owns Volvo, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Linclon.

Reitzle will rework the ride, handling and steering dynamics of Volvos, for too long a compromised aspect of the finished product. He wants the Swedish car to ultimately be as good dynamically as BMWs.

Among the many new products is a five-door off-roader to challenge the Mercedes-Benz M-Class and BMW X5. It goes by the codename P28, will hit the market in 2002 and is based on the platform of the V70 Cross Country.

Initially it will be powered by Volvo's familiar light-pressure turbocharged five-cylinder engines, but is expected to get a Ford V8 and a new 2.7-litre V6 diesel developed jointly by Peugeot and Jaguar.

If the $91,000 V70 Cross Country is an example of things to come, Volvo's future is bright. It has great seats, is composed over all road surfaces, and its interior is one of the best in the business.

The 2.4-litre turbocharged five-cylinder develops 125kW at 5900 rpm and 230Nm of pulling power at 4500 rpm. Drive goes to all four wheels through a four-speed automatic transmission. Under normal motoring 95 per cent of drive goes to the front wheels and 5 per cent to the rear. But when things get slippery drive can be split 50:50.