Volvo Plans SUV

PARIS--Volvo Car Corp. is planning to release a sports utility vehicle and boost its annual output by 50 percent--producing about 600,000 vehicles over the next five years.

A launch date for the Volvo SUV has not been released, but the company reports that it “will be a further extension of the Cross Country (a four wheel drive version of the V70 wagon). The SUV won’t be built on a Ford platform, but on existing platforms of the S60 and S80.”

Volvo’s lines include its S40 family car, the V70 station wagon and the S80. The company says it has high hopes for its new sporty S60 vehicle.

The S60, making its world debut at the Paris Car Show, goes on sale in Europe in October, November in North America and Japan in January. Prices in the U.S. are to start at just under $30,000. Volvo plans to promote the vehicle almost solely on the Internet, expecting to sell about 20,000 S60s this year and close to 80,000 in 2001.

Volvo was purchased by the Ford Motor Co. for $6.5 billion in January of last year. Volvo now forms part of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group (PAG), which includes Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Lincoln.