Volvo Cars’ Concept Coupé is the first vehicle to use the company’s forthcoming supercharged and turbocharged Drive-E petrol engine. The 400hp 2.0-litre unit is teamed with an electric motor to create a PHEV powertrain.
The design study, which channels the P1800 from the 1960s, is being displayed at the Frankfurt motor show to publicise Volvo’s new Drive-E engines as well as its Scalable Product Architecture (SPA). Next year’s second generation XC90 will be the first production model to use SPA. It will also have Drive-E petrol and diesel engines and be styled with some of the references of the Concept Coupé.
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“The Volvo Concept Coupé is no futuristic dream car. It is designed to demonstrate the capability of our new architecture: the confident stance, the proportions and the most prominent design signatures. Even though the all-new XC90 is an entirely different type of car, you will recognize the connection instantly when it is revealed next year,” says Thomas Ingenlath, Volvo’s SVP of Design.
Some of the features which will be carried over to the next XC90 and other future models will be T-shaped daytime lights and a more prominent grille and larger Volvo badge (what the firm calls the ‘iron mark’).
Volvo is also using the concept to draw further attention to the possibilities of its Scalable Product Architecture. As well as having been designed for four-cylinder petrol, diesel and PHEV applications, it is also being prepared for autonomous drive. The first features with autonomous steering to avoid accidents and make driving more comfortable will be introduced in 2014. Volvo Cars says its aim is to have cars with fully autonomous technology out on the roads before 2020.
Author: Glenn Brooks
