Volvo, like most of the auto industry is in dire straights.They desperately need a flagship car for the future to bring in potential buyers. Because let’s face it, the only thing that stirs your pulse less than a Volvo is a Toyota Prius. In the past Volvo’s tended to be be at best beige and uninteresting and at worst down right coma inspiring. And so far only the Japanese and the Koreans have figured out how to coma inducing cars.
European cars need to have a sense of Euro-Sheik, a European flare if you will. We as American buyers want to be able to picture ourselves winding down and Alp, cruising across Millau Viaduct, or through the streets of Monaco. Those things are decidedly un-Volvo… or are they?
“The all-new S60 will be one of the strongest players in a segment where the competition is razor-sharp,” says Volvo Cars President and CEO Stephen Odell. “Your damn right it is!” is what I say. Provided it looks like the concept we saw at the 2009 L.A. Auto Show. I never thought I’d say this but, that is one sexy Volvo!
Sweet Jesus it looks like Volvo finally hired a designer! The panoramic glass roof, the killer chrome wheels, the elongated tear drop head lights and the knife thin tail lights, where in the hell did they come from? Not to mention the asymetrically split seat in the interior, the floating center console and did I mention the panoramic glass roof?! PANORAMIC GLASS ROOF!!!!!! It looks like the entire top of the car is glass. Look how they split the roof from the rear wind shield, it’s gorgeous!
I’m in love with the way the top of steering wheel’s hub slopes right in to the steering column and how they packaged all the controls, gauges, and screens to be driver centric thus creating an asymmetrical dash. That asymmetry is carried through out the interior.
Volvo claims this the S60 is inspired by Scandinavia with touches like Viking longboat inspired headlamps, and an open roof , continually flowing lines, and a shoulder line that has two separate and distinct curves. (Outside the long boat thing I’m not real sure what the rest of that has to do with Scandinavia but, hey if it works…)
One of the touches that really impressed me was the use of lighting as a design element something that seems to be becoming quite a trend in the auto industry. Volvo’s designers used something they are calling a DNA light on the front grill next to the head lights, and the transparent mounts for the rear view mirrors are also illuminated and work as part of the turn signal indicators.
This cars speaks of speed, but it’s not aggressive, loud, or overbearing. Hell they even painted it a lovely shade of beige, well they are calling it “Warm Liquid Copper” but we all know it’s beige. Strangely enough I like this car in beige. Here’s why. The world is full of boring cars and loud obnoxious cars. What we lack are beautiful, sexy, classy cars that are at the same time some how… understated. What surprises my is that Volvo, is the company poised to provide that classy yet understated luxury, that is if the S60′s style survives the engineers and accountants on it’s way to production.
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