Volvo C70 coupe
Volvo design chief: C70 is ‘a car you can desire.’
Volvo AB’s C70 coupe is the product of a joint venture with TWR Group Ltd. The two-door Volvo C70, which was launched at the Paris auto show, is available in bright colors and is equipped with a 240-hp, 2.3 liter turbo engine and driver, passenger and seat-mounted side airbags. Volvo executives tout the superiority of the coupe and stress that its design is different from other Volvos. The car will be offered in the US on June 1997, with the convertible version following in Spring 1998.
PARIS – AB Volvo unveiled the curry Volvo C70 coupe at the Paris auto show. Part of a series of radically restyled new models, the Volvo C70 is the first of the new wave to come to the United States, as Volvo campaigns to pep up its “Baby on Board” image.
The coupe goes on sale in the United States by early June. A convertible version follows in spring 1998.
The aggressively styled Volvo C70 is the work of the AutoNova joint venture between Volvo and Britain’s TWR. TWR owns 51 percent of the joint venture. The British company engineered the car to Volvo’s specifications, based on the 850 chassis.
A beaming Peter Horbury, Volvo’s chief designer, described the new coupe as “a car you desire,” as opposed to a utilitarian “car you need.”
Tuve Johannesson president of Volvo Car Corp., did what car company presidents do at car shows, and bragged that the Volvo C70 is “the most beautiful car in the world.”
The Volvo C70 is a clear-cut departure from Volvos to date. Horbury first introduced Volvo’s more stylish look with the S40 and V40 models, which went on sale in Europe in February and are not exported to the United States.
“It is very important for Volvo (by introducing the Volvo C70) to demonstrate its capability, its flexibility, to participate, to cooperate with other companies in many dimensions,” Johannesson said.
It took 30 months from concept to the start of Volvo C70 production, the company said.
The Volvo C70 was conceived shortly after Volvo torpedoed its merger with France’s Renault. Since then, Volvo officials including Chairman Soren Gyll, have said Volvo will entertain the idea of joint ventures, but it is not looking for any more mergers.
“You’ll see, we will add product outside our historical framework. These cars, the Volvo C70 and the cabriolet, are examples,” Johannesson said.
Volvo reportedly is trying to keep the Volvo C70 sticker under $40,000 for the U.S. market. That’s expensive territory for Volvo, but Johannesson said he expects to be able to charge a premium price.
“We are not going to be a low-priced alternative to Mercedes or BMW, there’s no reason for us to be. This is a superior car,” Johannesson said.
Horbury said his mission in designing the Volvo C70 was to create a coupe per se, not a two-door version of the four-door 850, which was how Volvo designed coupes in the past.
The Volvo C70 was designed to hold “four adults, not five,” he said. That allowed Horbury to move the two rear-seat passengers closer together, and the rear wheels farther apart. Horbury said he chose the wider track for styling reasons, but the design also improved handling.
The U.S. market is expected to account for about half of all Volvo C70 sales, including both coupes and convertibles. The worldwide total is expected to start at around 20,000 units a year.
Johannesson said in an interview that Volvo C70 production eventually could be expanded at the Volvo plant in Uddevalla, Sweden, to around 40,000 units a year.
He said the Volvo C70 can be profitable at such low volumes – below the initial 20,000 units – because the Volvo C70 is based on the 850 model, so Volvo didn’t have to start from scratch. Johannesson estimated the Volvo C70 development cost at around $250 million.
Volvo introduced bright new colors to go with its sporty new model. Mercedes-Benz AG, another company trying to jazz up its image, did something similar when it introduced the SLK hard-top convertible earlier this year. For the pre-show press introduction, Volvo chose to unveil its new “saffron” color, a bright gold. Horbury had a matching handkerchief in his breast pocket while he made the presentation.
As expected, the Volvo C70 gets driver and passenger airbags in the front, plus Volvo’s seat-mounted side airbags.
The engine in the U.S. version is similar to that found in the 850R turbo – a 2.3-liter turbo that makes 240 horsepower. The U.S. version will have a couple of fewer horsepower, due to U.S. emissions rules.
The phrase, “ultimate driving machine” sneaked its way into the Volvo C70 press kit. BMW, beware?
