Volvo S60 Concept

At one time, concept cars were works of wild imaginations of designers, fantasies that would never ever make it to the production line. They were conceived for motorshows to dazzle crowds and enhance the image of the carmaker as a 'high-tech’ company. Some concept cars were so fragile that they didn’t even last the duration of a motorshow as parts which were stuck on dropped off!

Current S60 will be around one more year

Mattin's new design direction for Volvo calls for larger badges

But in the past couple of decades, probably because it’s not cheap to make a concept car and it also takes up precious time which the designers should be spending on products that will make money for the company, concept cars have become more a preview of models to come. Some are many years away from showroom debuts and the designers want to see public reaction to new styling features while others are in their final stages of development and will be launched within a year. Sometimes, the new design is so radical that the company was to 'prepare’ the public for it by presenting it as a concept car first. And sometimes, it’s a tactical move to tell the public 'don’t put your money on our rival’s new model yet because this is what we’re going to offer you in the near future’.

Volvo has been taking this approach on a number of occasions and the last time was with the XC60 Concept a couple of years back. This month, with the S60 Concept, it is giving the world an idea of what the next generation of the S60 will look like when it arrives in 2010.

"The all-new S60 will be one of the strongest players in a segment where the competition is razor-sharp," declared Volvo Cars President and CEO Stephen Odell. "The sporty design gives visual promise of an enthusiastic drive and I can assure you here and now that the all-new S60 will live up to that promise. The driving properties are better than in any previous Volvo. The car's technology will also help you to be a better and safer driver.

"The concept car's exterior gives a clear indication of what customers can expect of the all-new S60. On the inside we've been even more daring - there the focus has been on creating a vision of the future in the slightly longer perspective," explained Volvo Cars Design Director Steve Mattin.

Mr Mattin, who took over from Peter Horbury, introduced a new design direction for Volvo in the XC60 Concept and continues to incorporate the features of the new direction in models after the XC60. For instance, the front of the S60 Concept has an enlarged iron mark (the Volvo badge) in the trapezoidal grille and it is Mr Mattin’s feeling that the brand’s logo and name need to be bigger, which is why you see the latest models having larger badges.

The XC60 Concept which Steven Mattin was responsible for...	... and the actual model that is sold today

"Dynamic and with considerable character, but without appearing aggressive. It is packed with inspiration from Scandinavian design and from the Swedish coastline's cliffs and seas. A thrilling blend of drama and sensuality," said Mr. Mattin.

The concept car's headlamps unite classic Scandinavian influences with modern high-tech. Under the protective cover of each of the headlamps, the lights create a sculpture creating the image of two miniature Viking longboats sailing side by side, one for main beam and one for dipped beam. When driving in the dark, the light is reflected from the concealed, upward-facing High Performance LED bulbs, projected ahead by the ships' filled sails. Frivolous, perhaps, and unlikely to be in the production S60 but an interesting idea nonetheless.

Viewed from the side, the concept car's slim coupe roofline and window graphics are accompanied by an entirely new lateral shoulder line, forming a gentle double wave. Stretching from the headlamps all the way to the tail, it is intended to add 'emotional excitement’ and plays with the surface and its highlights. Both the 7-spoke 20-inch wheels and the tread of the low-profile tyres have been specially designed. The bronze-painted brake calipers match the "Warm Liquid Copper" livery.

The unique rear parallelogram doors offer a spectacular show when they are opened and shut. Door opening is initiated by pressing on a button and the movement starts off in the traditional way. In the next phase, the forward section also swings out away from the car's body and the door glides parallel with the side of the car until it reaches its end position by the rear wheel.

"In forthcoming models, you will see more and more of our "racetrack" design cues. The car's lines do not end abruptly but instead forge a continuous flow pattern inspired by the fast sweeps of the racing track. In the concept car, this is particularly visible at the rear," revealed Mr. Mattin.

The tail lamps, which follow the curve of the rear shoulders, are as advanced as the headlamps. When switched off, the lamp panels show no trace of the traditional red or yellow. But when activated, the position marker lights, brake lights and turn indicators come on in their correct colours. The solid glass panel is sectioned into horizontal "slices". At the rear, there is also a retractable diffuser that adjusts with vehicle speed to give better aerodynamic properties.

Inside the S60 Concept is a variety of spectacular next-generation ideas which Mr Mattin said 'shows the road we would like to take in the future’. Packaged with exciting details, all of which together create a Scandinavian fresh light feeling, full of visual harmony, it is said to be the most exclusive Volvo interior ever created.

In the middle of the 4-seater cabin glitters the jewel in the crown: a floating centre stack made out of handmade, solid Orrefors crystal. It floats like a gentle, calm wave from the instrument panel all the way to the rear seat backrest.
 

The entire driver's environment has been designed to provide total overview and convenient control. The centre stack's floating design (which first appeared in the current S40 many years ago) has an almost weightless feel about it.

"The speedometer is designed as a three-dimensional glass spiral. The low numbers appear closest to the eye and the figures appear to be increasingly distant as you accelerate. The idea is that the speedometer should provide a visual reminder of the forward motion," explained Mr. Mattin.

The floating theme continues in the concept car's slim, lightweight contoured seats, made of soft Light Blond leather with contrasting stitching. The seats are attached to the centre console's lower section and inner sill, which means that they don't actually touch the floor. Both the seat belt and the armrest are integrated into the seat itself.

The backrest's pony-tail slot, first featured in previous concept cars, has a new, slightly asymmetrical design. When discussing the XC60 Concept which had the same feature, Mr Mattin admitted that it is something that needs to be sorted out with the production engineers and also has safety issues to be overcome so it’s just for show.

"The aim is to create a pleasant living-room atmosphere with gentle, invisible transfers between the various surfaces. For instance, the dark, ecologically tanned saddle leather on the floor continues up on the lower part of the door," said Mr. Mattin.

The upper part of the doors is faced with genuine blond birch wood of the same colour as the Scandinavian coastline's salt- and sun-bleached wooden piers and driftwood. Two parallel slits create a wave-shaped protrusion whose upper section forms a comfortable leather armrest.

The S60 Concept also presents a ground-breaking safety innovation that, among other things, can detect a pedestrian who steps into the path of the car - and the car's full braking power is automatically activated if the driver does not respond to the danger. The technology, known as Collision Warning with Full Auto Brake and pedestrian detection, will be available in the production S60.

"Up until now, we have focused on helping the driver avoid collisions with other vehicles. Now we are taking a giant step forward with a system that also boosts safety for unprotected road-users. New sensor technology also makes it possible to advance from 50% to full automatic braking power. To our knowledge, none of our competitors have made such progress in this area," explained Thomas Broberg, safety expert at Volvo Cars.

The car's speed is of considerable significance to the outcome of a collision with a pedestrian. If the speed drops from 50 km/h to 30 km/h, the chance of a pedestrian's survival dramatically increases.
 
"Our aim is that this new technology should help the driver avoid collisions with pedestrians at speeds below 20 km/h. If the car is being driven faster, the aim is to reduce the impact speed as much as possible. In most cases, we can reduce the collision force by about 75%," said Mr. Broberg.

This technology is also highly beneficial in the event of rear-end impacts with other vehicles. Studies indicate that half of all drivers who drive into another vehicle from behind do not brake prior to the collision. In such cases, the technology can help entirely avoid a collision if the relative speed difference between the two vehicles is less than 25 km/h.

In an emergency situation, the driver first gets an audible warning together with a flashing light in the windscreen's head-up display. In order to prompt an immediate, intuitive reaction, the visual warning is designed to look like a brake light coming on in front. If the driver does not respond to the warning and the system assesses that a collision is imminent, the car's full braking power is activated automatically. The main aim is still for the initial warning to be sufficient for the driver to brake or manoeuvre away from the hazard. Full automatic braking is an emergency measure that is only activated when the collision is imminent.

The engine in the S60 Concept is a 4-cylinder 1.6-litre petrol unit using high-efficiency GTDi (Gasoline Turbocharged Direct Injection) technology and producing 180 bhp. In a conventional petrol engine, fuel is injected into the inlet manifold ahead of the inlet valves. With direct injection, however, the fuel is injected directly into the combustion chamber under high pressure. Volvo Cars' first production car with GTDi technology will be introduced during the second half of 2009.

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