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Volvo XC60: Rugged meets coupe for a racy future

By Ania Dardas

Volvo’s been busy pumping up their visual volume! Gone is every trace of the boxy reputation of the past, the XC60 concept car promises the best of all worlds: a muscular lower half with 20-inch wheels, accentuated wheel housings and aluminum scuff plates, topped off by sleek windows, a raked windshield, dramatic roof line and all packaged in beautiful shiny metallic colors that contain Ciba^® XYMARA^TM METASHEEN^® effect pigments to place this model squarely in the sexy coupe class.

Revealed to the world at the 2007 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the XC60 design was a magnet for attention. The smooth and glossy surfaces and white touches are strongly reminiscent of Apple styling, but Volvo’s attention to safety is ever present in features like the vertical “ponytail slot” that runs through the seats to offer ventilation but also improved visibility and is also said to be the basis for some sort of a cargo tie-down system.

The design is innovative and distinctive with slanted new headlamps that will also be appearing in other Volvo models as well as a tailgate that can be lifted independently of the rear hatch to stow smaller loads. Of course, the entire tailgate can be opened too or just the upper section. Equally interesting is the tailgate’s darkened lower section that is transparent when looking out through the rear of the car to increase visibility – safety again!

The interior is as eye catching as the exterior and the focus goes straight to the instrument panel featuring at its center a round analog speedometer flanked by a set of “digital wings” displaying additional information. Buttons and controls are flush with the surface and are a smooth cool white, appearing only when the navigation and information systems are switched on – shades of the ipod. And the light color of the seating makes the seats – ergonomically designed for optimal long-term comfort, naturally, and this time even slimmer and asymmetrical – appear to float over the dark espresso colored surface of the lower half of the interior.

And when it goes into production the XC60 will be one of the first Volvos to be equipped with the company’s new City Safe active safety system that helps drivers avoid or minimize damage from low-speed rear-impact accidents.

And in terms of image, Volvo is pushing that distinctive classic iron mark that is bigger and bolder than ever. Volvo Chief Designer Steve Mattin said: “We need to be recognizable as Volvo. We’re still about Scandinavian simplicity, we can’t do styling for the sake of styling. Volvos last a long time so our design must have legs. But we can’t be too simple or we’d edge toward blandness. And we can’t not change; we must be fresh.”

Well, bland is certainly not the word that comes to mind when admiring the XC60. Its design is expressive and sculpted, aggressive yet sleek. Watch out for the new concept Volvo: 2009 will see the first models roll off the production line for 2010.