Four, according to Volvo president and CEO Stefan Jacoby, is enough. During the unveiling of the brand’s Concept You in Frankfurt, Jacoby announced that V-8s and six-cylinders are out, to be replaced in the Volvo lineup by efficient and assisted four-cylinders.
Fours in place of sixes and sixes traded for eights are becoming more commonplace, but this may be the most extreme commitment to downsizing we’ve seen. Once the current S80′s tenure is up, the Concept You—or something like it—will sit atop the Volvo lineup, motivated by what we assume will be a turbocharged and direct-injected four-cylinder. Volvo’s next large sedan will weigh several hundred pounds less as well—some of that due to the cylinder and displacement reductions themselves—making the small-engine pill somewhat easier to swallow. The goal is to produce four-cylinder engines that are more efficient than the current ones, with more power than today’s V-6s. And what will they sound like? “Not exactly like a V-8, but close.” They’re working on it.
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