#SwedishCars

Rumored to have been axed, Volvo North America CEO Doug Speck has confirmed plans to keep the XC90 SUV alive. In a recent interview with Automotive News, Speck commented that the automaker intends to “bring an all-new XC90 to the market.”

With Saab parent company Spyker Cars having secured a 30 million euro short-term loan, Saab vehicles will now resume production after a payment dispute with suppliers forced them to suspend their operations.

Defending World Challenge champions, K-PAX Racing, headed back to the podium in Utah over the weekend. After conquering their respective class last season and capturing the World Challenge Drivers Championship with their Volvo S60 in the GT Class, K-PAX’s newly built C30s are already looking like true competitors in the Touring Car class as well. Showing the team’s strength, the number 88 C30 driven by Aaron Povoledo topped the podium in the car (and the driver’s) second race.

Vladimir Antonov, Russian banker, investor, billionaire, and perennial runner-up for Most Interesting Man In The World Award, has been cleared by the Swedish National Debt Office to become a shareholder in Spyker, and ultimately Saab.

More recently though, Volvo had ditched the idea of a true performance model and instead decided to turn its “R” division from racing to just cosmetics.

Would you believe that the Volvo XC70 and S80 have received a facelift for 2012? Well, looking at the photos we’re not sure we would either. With styling cues so imperceptibly tweaked, Volvo insists the cars actually have new headlights. Plus, they get some new color options.

Saab parent company Spyker held talks with parts suppliers Thursday, in a bid to restart production that has been halted over a dispute regarding unpaid bills.

Saab CEO Jan Ake Jonsson will retire from Saab on May 19th, with the 59 year old executive leaving Saab during a tumultuous time. Saab Chairman Victor Muller will act as interim CEO as a search for a replacement gets underway.

Saab and German parts manufacturer ZF will establish a new facility in Saab’s hometown of Trolhattan, Sweden, that will build suspension components for their upcoming Phoenix platform cars, one of which will be the next 9-3 sedan.

The plant, which will employ 50 people, will produce front subframes and rear axles for the new cars. The Phoenix platform will likely underpin Saab’s entire new car range, and takes its roots from the competent GM Epsilon platform, which underpins most of their mid-size front-drive vehicles sold today.

[Source: Saab]

Press release below the jump

Proving the worth of social media ( forums in particular), Saab has just hired on SaabsUnited.com forum founder Steven Wade. Swade, as he’s known on the forum and blog, will be in charge of the social media presence for the Swedish automaker as it searches to reinvent itself.

Russian billionaire Vladamir Antanov isn’t done with Saab yet. Forced out of the Saab deal when General Motors sold off the Swedish automaker to Spyker, he recently re-acquired the Spkyer brand from the combined Saab Spyker Automobiles through a British coachbuilder he’s heavily invested in.

As the sponsor behind the Volvo Ocean Race, the Swedish luxury automaker is celebrating with the release of several custom models for the European market.

While Volvo has produced some attractive cars in its lifetime, perhaps the most loved and admired is the P1800. While first prototypes of this car hit the roads in 1960, eager buyers had to wait another year to get their hands on this beautiful 2+2 coupe. Interesting point to note, while the prototypes were built by the Italian coachbuilder Frua, initial production vehicles were built by Jensen Motors in U.K.

Reborn from the ashes of a crumbling auto industry last year, Saab‘s latest concept is appropriately named PhoeniX.

Swedish supercar maker Koenigsegg has found a way to make 1,115 horsepower look even more impressive than it sounds, (well, sounds to say anyway), thanks to a matte-white and exposed dry carbon body.