The Freestyle crossover and Ford Five Hundred Sedan share their platform with the outgoing Volvo S80. In this case, Ford was able to improve on the Volvo design with better side crash protection. The Five Hundred earned a top rating in the Insurance Institute's tough side crash tests. The old S80 was originally designed before that test was introduced and, consequently, it didn't do as well.

A slightly redesigned version of the Ford Five Hundred will be introduced at the Detroit Auto Show in early January. A new version of the S80 will be entering dealerships later in January.