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The new car will debut at the LA Autoshow in early January.

As for Avalons, it's a different market. The Avalon competes with cars like the Mercury Grand Marquis and the like.

The S80 is more in competition wiht the Audi A6, BMW 5-series, Mercedes E-class, Infiniti I30, Lexus GS

 

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I guess it depends on how you look at that. Intelligent people don't always equate to people on a budget and vise versa.

What I meant before was that the Grand Marquis is more of a competitor to the Toyota than the S80.

Lexus still makes the GS even though Toyota builds the Avalon. They still sell a ton also, to argueably intelligent people.

I don't think Volvo fits in to that mould wihtin the Ford portfolio. If anything, Volvo is going to be pitched more at VW/Infiniti/Acura/ whereas the Jaguar brand will pitch in against BMW, MB and Lexus (Audi somwhere in between closer to Volvo).

For those buyers wanting to pay less, they'll probably market them more at a Mercury, a Lincoln or a large Mazda like the Millenia.

Volvo definitely has a prestige card to play over the Toyota, and that comes with a premium.

 

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Actually, now that you say that, I do remember reading that. Isn't the GS300 rear wheel drive? I believe the Avalon is fwd.