Volvo will market entry-level car to rival VW Golf

Volvo plans to offer a Volkswagen Golf competitor as part of a plan to expand the automaker's product line. Speaking in London last week, new Volvo CEO Stefan Jacoby said the next generation of the entry-level Volvo “will be a derivation of the C30, a Golf competitor,” according to the Web site www.autocar.co.uk. He also said Volvo's brand positioning would shift toward “functionality and Scandinavian elegance” and away from sportiness, according to the Web site.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gets Ford with 1-millionth Sync system

It's taken a little more than two years for Ford to build 1 million vehicles with the Sync entertainment and communications system, and the automaker marked the milestone by having Ford CEO Alan Mulally deliver a Ford Fusion hybrid with the 1-millionth system to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Ford also let Mulally, a former Boeing executive, make a return visit to Seattle, home to the Microsoft headquarters. Microsoft supplies the software that is the heart of the Sync system.

GreenGT H2 completes first laps ahead of 2013 Le Mans

Are we entering the era of the eco-friendly racing car? French outfit GreenGT could be spearheading the push, with the announcement its new H2 hydrogen racing car has completed its first successful racing laps testing at the Magny-Cours circuit in France. The wacky-looking hydrogen hybrid racing car will compete in the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race, filling the ‘experimental competitor’ pit garage vacated by the radical-looking 2012 Nissan DeltaWing.