The product pipeline is vital to whoever buys Volvo, so Ford has underwritten continuing development during the sale process, which has been going on for about a year.

The plug-in hybrid vehicle Volvo plans to sell in 2012 is just one of the new vehicles and technologies coming from Volvo, said Doug Speck, president and CEO of Volvo Cars North America.

The most important new model in the works is the all-new S60 sedan that goes on sale in about a year. Speck expects the S60 sport sedan to become Volvo's top seller in the United States.

The addition of the XC60 crossover SUV this year and the S60 next year will give Volvo vehicles in all the major segments of the luxury market, so don't look for the Swedish automaker to add more vehicles anytime soon, Speck said.

Volvo does plan to offer a fuel-efficient diesel engine in the United States, he added.

Ford, which owns Volvo, has the luxury of holding out for a good deal on the luxury brand, something cash-strapped General Motors could not do when it put its Swedish subsidiary Saab up for sale earlier this year. Chinese automaker Geely and an American investment group are both reportedly interested in acquiring Volvo, which is renowned for its safety and durability.

The global economic downturn has put Audi's desire for an assembly plant in the United States on indefinite hold, Audi of America boss Johan de Nysschen told me at the Frankfurt auto show in Germany.

Audi will also limit how many of its European models come to the United States.

"We are being very circumspect about the complexity of our model line in the United States," de Nysschen said. "We must have enough marketing (money) to support each of our vehicles."

While Audi will continue to broaden its line of diesel vehicles, don't look for European niche models like the A1 subcompact or the A5 Sportback hatchback in U.S. dealerships, he said. However, Audi will bring the larger A7 Sportback to America if the automaker decides to build a vehicle based on the lovely concept car it unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January.

None of the planned vehicles will boost sales to the point where Audi needs a U.S. assembly site, however.

"For the foreseeable future, we will have no production in the United States," de Nysschen said. Audi had considered assembly here, but its board nixed the idea in July. Audi will not build any vehicles in the plant its corporate sibling Volkswagen will open in Chattanooga, Tenn., he said.

"There's not that much sharing between Audi and VW now," he said, explaining that adding an assembly line to produce Audis at the VW plant would cost nearly as much as building an Audi-only facility.

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Mark Phelan: phelan@freepress.com.