Amidst constant rumors of a sale of the Volvo brand, and the constant denials from Ford, the brand has seen some massive sales declines, both in Europe and in the United States. Even if Ford does choose to keep the brand, which does seem likely at the moment, fewer cars to sell means fewer workers needed. The latest round of cuts is said to amount to about 900 jobs in 2009, all of which could come from its home country of Sweden. An entire shift will be canceled at its plant in Goteborg in the western side of the country, which may or may not include a portion of those 900 job losses. It would appear that new president and CEO Stephen Odell has his work cut out for him as he attempts to turn the automaker around.
We truly do appreciate the custom-car scene, in all of its various guises. There is, however, a problem with the custom Prius you see above and in the video embedded after the break. Generally speaking, the goal of modifying a car is to either A) make it go faster or B) make it look better. When Classe Gustafson, Elvis Häggbom and Kenny Kyrk from Sweden had finished spending $184,000 customizing a Toyota Prius, they had accomplished neither. This Prius-trocity, which was modified for a television show, is anything but subtle. It lost two doors during its transformation from mild-mannered hybrid eco-mobile to whacked out sport compact that just happens to get good fuel economy, though it did get scissor-style portals that are nearly impossible to open in the process. And it also gained a huge honkin' stereo and the body-kit from a Volvo SUV. The over-the-top paint-job is the final touch. The Hybrid Synergy Drive powertrain, however, went untouched save for the obligatory fart-can exhaust. Nice.
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The link between Volkswagen and Porsche is about to get stronger, but VW's Swedish contingent has already created a special edition to honor the alliance. The VW Caddy has lived a staid life as a popular work truck in Europe, but the Swedes apparently think it could be so much more. So it's releasing 250 Carrera Cup Edition Caddies outfitted with black, 17-inch wheels wrapped in 225/45 R17 rubber, a new body kit, red-on-white paint scheme with Porsche's signature "Carrera" text, two-tone leather sport seats, a leather steering wheel and shifter. The 2.0-liter TDI mill is putting out 140 hp and 236 lb.-ft. of torque and with a fire extinguisher mounted on the diamond-plate floor boards, we think we might have found the perfect track-day accomplice to join that GT3 RS we've been building in our dreams.
It's pretty straightforward for most of us: drive above the speed limit and risk getting in trouble with the fuzz. Racing drivers usually get away with it – if only because they're on closed circuits – which makes it all the more interesting when the same fate befalls them as applies to the rest of us. Although nothing seems to have come out of Schumacher's now-famous cab-driving incident, for example, Lewis Hamilton can't drive anymore on French roads. Now, after having almost run down a police officer on his way to a record fifth consecutive victory in Monte Carlo, we've got video footage of incumbent rally champion Sebastien Loeb getting pulled over by Swedish police in his Citroen C4 rally car.
In the video after the jump, you can clearly see the same ticked-off look the rest of us get while receiving a ticket. But the discernible exasperation could be more from the results of that weekend's rally, where mechanical problems forced Loeb to retire as Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala became the youngest ever rally winner at 22, topping a Ford- dominated podium at the 2008 Swedish Rally.
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