@Levente Szileszky

the article says nothing about the diesel kicking in above 50 kmph and CLEARLY states that both engines are NEVER deployed at the same time.

@noodle heimer

You want to try a VW Beetle or a Ford Capri in the snow.

Both suffer the same problem... The front wheels don't do anything! especially steering! Because both cars lack weight over the front (the Capri was only a 1.6, maybe a 2.8 or 3.0 would work better).

Then again, you can spin anything if you try hard enough... I managed to do a complete 360 in a Short wheelbase Mitsubishi Shogun 4x4... Coming down a hill, in 4 wheel drive, road icy, junction at the bottom, thought I'd loose a bit of the 5mph I was doing before I reached the junction... Engine breaking wasn't slowing me... touched the brake lightly and that was it... complete 360 down the road before coming to a halt... The faces on the drivers queued across the junction I was heading towards were an absolute picture! Windows full of huge eyeballs!

ever driven a volvo in snow?

Now, I'll admit, the last Volvo I owned was an 87, so perhaps Gramps Volvo finally died and new people are running the design show now.

I drove a Volvo in heavy winter snow for several years, and my Christ it was a godawful ride in snow. The design theory seemed to be "we'll make it weigh twice what it ought, and have an insanely strong passenger compartment, because we KNOW it's going to land tits-up sooner or later."

It more or less worked. I once spun out at low speed (20 mph or so) in heavy snow and ice. The vehicle who slammed into me had $5k worth of damage. I needed to reseat a hose on the engine block and drove home.

This new push-me-pull-you engine plant sounds like a ton of fun, yes indeed.