Seeing Volvo’s president and CEO Stefan Jacoby driving the all-new XC60 Plug-in Hybrid Concept on stage during the car’s launch in Detroit shows how important the U.S. market is to the (Chinese-owned) Swedish manufacturer.

That’s because the USA remains the brand’s biggest market in the world and in which it recorded a 25 percent sales increase in 2011 on top of a 20 percent rise the previous year.

The XC60 Plug-in Hybrid may be a concept, but Volvo is already openly talking about developing a production version and the impact it expects to have in North America.

Last month, Volvo launched the production version of its first-ever plug-in hybrid model based on the V60, which will go on sale in limited numbers this November in certain European countries.

Today, the Swedish car manufacturer announced that it would soon be adding another plug-in hybrid in its range, this time based on the XC60 crossover featuring a gasoline (instead of a diesel internal combustion engine like the V60 PHEV).

The P1800 is by far the sportiest looking model ever to leave Volvo's production facilities - though to be precise, manufacturing began in the UK by Jensen Motors before Volvo moved production to Sweden in 1963.

This year marks the 50th anniversary since Volvo introduced the coupe model to the world in 1961, and to celebrate the event, the Swedish firm's head designer and an avid fan of the P1800, Christopher Benjamin, came up with a sketch to show what a modern day version could look like.

By Volvo’s own admission, the XC90 was a “latecomer” in the luxury SUV market as it was launched in 2002 – some five years after the Mercedes-Benz M-Class and three years later than the BMW X5.

Nevertheless, Volvo claims that the XC90 has become “Sweden’s most valuable export product”, selling a record 85,000 units in 2005 and bringing in about US$6.2 billion to the company in its peak years. The U.S. has been the XC90’s number one market with 38,800 units sold in 2004 and 36,200 in 2005.

True to its word, Volvo hosted the world premiere of its new concept model at the Frankfurt Motor Show. The oddly named Concept You was created not only to give us a glimpse of the Swedish firm's evolving design DNA and showcase its new platform architecture, but it also hints at Volvo's next generation large sedan. Read more »

We are not sure what Volvo is trying to tell us about its Frankfurt Motor Show-bound conceptual study by naming it Concept You, but following an announcement on Monday, the Swedish company issued a teaser video that shows bits and pieces of the car without, however, revealing it. Read more »

“It’s time to stop counting cylinders”, said Volvo’s Senior Vice President for Research and Development, Peter Martens. “The concept we will reveal at Frankfurt proves that downsized engines can go hand in hand with our customers’ expectations on luxury and driving pleasure.”

Volvo Car Corporation and Siemens, Europe's largest engineering company, will join forces for the development of electric vehicles through an extensive strategic cooperation.

The partnership between the two companies will focus on electric drive technology, power electronics, charging technology and the integration of all those systems in Volvo’s existing C30 Electric project.