The more luxurious 260 series ended production in 1982, to make way for the even-more-upmarket 700-series, but the popular 240 continued on as an entry-level model in the USA market.Īn unusual 200-series production location was Turin, Italy, for one special model: the 262C personal luxury coupe, both styled by and with final assembly by Italian coachbuilder Bertone. Volvo made almost 3 million 240s and 260s over its nearly 20 year production run, both in Sweden and at plants around the world, such as in Canada and Thailand. In motorsport, 240 Turbo race cars racked up victories in the European Touring Car Championship (ETC) and German Touring Car Championship (DTM) in 1985. In 1981, Volvo became one of the pioneers of turbocharged road cars with the B21FT engine, pushing "Flying Brick" 240 Turbo road cars to speeds rivaling other sporty 2- and 4-doors from European competitors BMW and Mercedes. As fuel injection became standard across the Volvo range, these engines were quieter, more powerful, and less maintenance intensive than their carbureted, pushrod B18 and B20 predecessors. The four cylinder 240s received new engines as well, with the 240 debuting the "red block" overhead cam engines. The 262, 264, and 265 only made up about 10% of all 200-series sales, which when combined with top-end wear and oiling problems experienced by early PRVs means that not many of these cars remain on the road today. At a time when most American engines were still iron-block, pushrod, and carburetted, the PRV's all-aluminum construction and fuel injection was highly advanced for the time. The PRV in particular was a significant engine for Volvo, so named because it was co-developed with French automakers Peugeot and Renault.
From the firewall forward, it was nearly all new, with different fenders, bumpers, grilles, and headlights, rack-and-pinion steering, and new overhead cam engines: the " red block" B21 and B23 gas inline fours, the VW-sourced D24 inline six diesel, and the "PRV" B27/B28 V6. The 200 series was a significant engineering evolution of the 140.
The model designations, particularly from the 80s onwards, should therefore be taken with a grain of salt. Here at IPD, we've thus observed some oddbal cars like 260s with four cylinder engines but 260 interior and exterior trim. Partway through the 200 series's production run, Volvo began using the middle digit of the -40 and -60 designations to denote higher trim and equipment levels rather than engine. If you ask someone off the street to "name a Volvo, any Volvo," odds are their answer will be the Volvo 240: the archetypal, boxy, tough-as-nails car of the 70s, 80s, and early 90s.Īs with the Volvo 140 and 164 before it, the 200 series covers a variety of body shapes, engines, and trim levels, denoted by the model number:
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