Alas, poor Volvo. No matter how hard the Swedish automaker tries - and it has tried for the past 11 years at least - it cannot find many buyers for its performance oriented, turbocharged R models.

The company that has built its reputation on safety and reliability has had great difficulty trying to convince buyers that it can produce models that can credibly rival the likes of BMW and Audi. And since Volvo only sold 50% of the anticipated number of R units to the U.S. market last year (Americans were pretty much the R's only buyers) Ford's PAG subsidiary decided to throw in the towel on the whole project.

T'is a sad day in Sweden.

[Sources: Autocar & MotorAuthority]