Volvo gets an all-round new look - and stay tuned for the crystal glass gearshift
This may be your first glimpse of a new look for for Volvo, unveiled last month at a preview for journalists in Gothenburg, Sweden, the company’s hometown.
The new look for Volvo
The Volvo Concept Coupé will make its public debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show, which opens on Tuesday for two days of press previews.
Volvo has been owned by Geely of China since 2010.
"In recent years Volvo’s designs seem to have been on an erratic course, and the company has juggled design directors," says the New York Times.
Last year Thomas Ingenlath of Volkswagen became senior vice president for design, and the Concept Coupé is his first statement. It is also the first vehicle to be shown that is based on a design discipline the company calls "Scalable Product Architecture".
"Like many smaller automakers, Volvo is establishing a shared system for all its vehicles, from crossovers to sports models, with modular combinations of chassis and engines," says the NYT.
Ingenlath himself compared the Concept Coupé to a lion at rest, demonstrating “the confident stance, the proportions and the most prominent design signatures” of the scalable design vocabulary.
The first production vehicle to reflect the new look will be the XC90 crossover, to be revealed next year.
“The new Volvo Concept Coupé reveals how we could shape our cars from now on,” Ingenlath said. “We add emotional value to the Volvo brand with the calm, confident beauty that is the hallmark of Scandinavian design.”
The new look includes a a set of lamp graphics with T-shape running lights and taillights to match. But the grille, with Volvo’s “iron” mark — the alchemist’s circle with arrow — remains generic. The car "also makes gestures to the wider idea of Scandinavian design", says the NYT, The gearshift handle, for instance, employs crystal glass.