I agree with Yannis that the S80's design has little to do with the lackluster sales for the car. The S80 is the only Volvo I've ever owned that consistently draws raves and inquiries from non-Volvo drivers. Unfortunately for Volvo, when people ask, I freely share the reality of the ownership experience with them. <BR>The S80 was the first Volvo that was actually capable of capturing conquest and crossover sales from other makes, and Volvo managed to squander this opportunity. First of all lets review the Jan-Dec annual sales numbers of S80's as reported in Automotive News:<BR>Volvo S80 Sales:<BR>Year Sales % Change<BR>1999 6,072 -<BR>2000 28,995 478<BR>2001 20,425 (29.6)<BR>2002 *15,606 (23.6)<BR>2000-2002 (41.0) <P>* Annualized based on sales thru June ‘02<P>The real reason for the dwindling sales is the dismal quality of the early cars, coupled with Volvo's response to fix them. When a manufacturer has serious, systemic design and build problems with a car, the way the manufacturer handles it presents an opportunity to either permanently galvanize the relationship, or wind up in divorce court. Fixing the problems would have involved an expensive service campaign to extensively rebuild the cars. Volvo reasoned that it would be less costly to just flush those early customers and let them go away, than it would have cost to fix the cars. They couldn't fix them quietly, because that would mean, 'secret warranty' and then the feds get involved. So Volvo made an active business decision to save money at their customer's expense, and this decision undoubtedly saved Volvo millions of dollars in the short run. Despite the fact that Volvo's own research demonstrated that it costs three times as much to attract new customers than it takes to retain the ones you already have, and that dissatisfied customers tell eleven other people, while satisfied customers only tell three, Volvo choose to chase the short money. Even that customer demographics for Volvo’s flagship model showed that S80 customers were opinion leaders, educated, and overwhelmingly Internet savvy, Volvo decided to flush them for short-term interests. Volvo apparently failed to seriously consider that dissatisfied customers using the Internet portal could now access eleven million people in an instant to share their sorry experiences, and they had the tools to articulate their misery to potential customers. <BR>The results include lackluster, diminishing sales, poor resale value, and ill will. An old car business maxim instructs, “there’s an ass for every seat”. Looks like these days Volvo’s finding itself with more seats than there are asses. <BR>If anyone is seriously considering buying a new XC-90 expecting that Volvo will be stepping up to the plate to do what’s right to support the car, then you need to be convinced that the leopard has changed his spots, and that precedent is without merit. How many times does an abused spouse need to go back for another beating before realizing that they need to leave the S.O.B.?<BR>