Volvo's product development unit is still hard at work, even as Ford has slapped a price tag on the brand. In an effort to develop more environmentally-friendly vehicles capable of meeting stringent emissions regulations on the horizon, the Swedish automaker has been working on some new highly-efficient vehicles. In addition to the DRIVe trio of ultra-efficient diesel-powered models, Volvo is working on an all-new micro-hybrid model. Set to join the lineup in 2011, the vehicle will be available with a choice between gasoline or diesel power, and a manual or automatic transmission. Fuel-saving technology will include a start-stop system plus brake-energy regeneration to cut consumption by nearly 5 percent. We'll see a full hybrid (with the ability to run on electric power only) in 2012 with the D5 diesel engine (Volvo's similar battery and flexfuel ReCharge Concept is above). A plug-in electric is also expected to follow down the road.

 

Nice! I wonder if those electric wheel motors are similar to the ones that Ford was showing off in the F150 electric truck... If so, they put out about 150hp per motor! 600 awhp Volvo C30 anyone?

The micro-hybrid idea is really easy to do and I'm surprised they haven't brought one to the market yet...