First Sight: Volvo Concept Coupé

It's clear talking to the team responsible for the Volvo Concept Coupé this isn't just 'another concept car'; it's a manifesto for where the sole remaining Scandinavian car brand is heading. It marks a new dawn for the company by introducing a new platform, range of engines and design language devised by Thomas Ingenlath.

Car Design News traveled to Volvo's design studio in Gothenburg to see the car and speak to the team behind it ahead of its official unveiling in Frankfurt.

"As the head of Volvo design you expect to be more than just a stylist and do surface detailing and making the car look nice," says Thomas Ingenlath, senior vice president Volvo car group design for who this is his first project. "We took a long time to get together how Volvo design can translate 'designed around you' [the brand's core mantra]."

The first fruit of this is the Concept Coupé and the initial reaction, when compared to the 'designed around you' mantra, is one of slight disconnect. Is a company built on a reputation for producing safe, carefully considered and functional cars (and yes, wagons) throwing the baby out with the bath water by forging forward with a two-door, two-plus-two coupé? Ingenlath argues not:

"A coupé is a classic format and you can reference it so it's not hiding behind some new, exotic mix of crossover style. It's also a car that we wanted to give to the fans outside [the company] but also internally as a statement that gives a certain passion and emotional boost." There was also the desire to avoid assumptions this car precursors a production model, which a wagon, for example, may have. And swoopy coupés grab more headlines than sensible wagons of course.

Exterior design chief Maximilian Missoni agrees: "Yes, maybe a shooting brake would have been more traditionally Volvo but that's what is so important about this car - to challenge people's perceptions, to provoke to an extent but this is a nice starting point and we want people to be surprised and say 'wow, this is a Volvo as well'."

So if its format isn't instantly synonymous with the brand (although, make no mistake, we're big fans of Volvo coupés – see Bertone 262C), and key iconography such as the bentwood-inspired, positive shoulder aren't evident, what makes this a Volvo?

"The way the lines are treated creates a certain calmness; a car that is really resting in itself," says Ingenlath. "People always say that a car has to be already on the jump. I think this is exactly what we are not doing. When the car is standing, it's standing.

"In terms of the shoulder how limiting would it be to a brand if you say 'a positive-shaped shoulder with such a radius is a design signature'? Of course on this car you have a very specific reference to the P1800. So, yes the shoulder is important but we're not dogmatic about exactly how it has to look, or that it has to have a radius. To me there's a big, big difference between how a sharp line can be. If it is a framework with flat surfaces in between then you talk about the line being the structure and defining everything, but it's very different here. And that's where I see a big difference to other car companies, where everything is determined to become sharp, precise; sharper and more precise. And then the next time they will sharpen the sharpness. This car has a lot of gentle surfaces to it and I think that is a nice contrast."

Unfortunately some of this surface sensitivity was bleached out by the lightbox the car sat under at the launch, meaning the beautifully resolved rear shoulder treatment read as a continuous surface, placing emphasis on the crease. Volvo – please don't light the car like this in Frankfurt!

By removing this crucial factor the car becomes a little generic in profile – there were whispers of 'Volvo's Audi A5' at its unveiling. However there's a real second- third- and fourth-read depth of quality to its execution. And any of this ambiguity is certain to be dispelled by the production XC90, which promises to be a 'proper Volvo'. The Concept Coupé therefore marks the boundaries of the bandwidth the design language can now explore.

What the production cars will share with this concept are its core graphics. The T-shaped DRLs that pin the large, floating chrome grille to its nose, as well as the rear lamp insert graphics are the new Volvo icons, so too the 'cow horn' lower mask. The rear lamp strategy is particularly clever, with the upper of the two elements flicking up into the C-pillar of wagons to retain the classic Volvo rear graphic.

And all new Volvos will be underpinned by the SPA (Scalable Product Architecture) platform, Volvo's answer to VW Group's MQB. The key is in its flexibility in terms of length, width and height and, perhaps most importantly, a fixed and very premium-looking dash-to-axle distance. This despite its transverse, front-drive powertrains. "The problem with the current S60 for instance is that the proportions are a bit difficult but if you take this new platform we are confident we can get a really nice proportion for the next generation," explains Missoni.

So proud is the team of SPA that it's emblazoned on the end of the IP, revealed when the door is opened. It's one of a number of detail highlights throughout the cabin, including a little Swedish flag label on the passenger side IP and seatbelt buckles stamped with 'Since 1959' to commemorate the year Volvo invented the three-point harness.

But the major change is the inclusion of a large, portrait touchscreen at the center of the IP. "The touchscreen for a designer is a beautiful thing because you can actually build the architecture around it and just concentrate on four or five good details," explains interior design director Robin Page.

Some will bemoan the loss of the legendary ergonomic simplicity of the button-based climate controls – and it's unlikely to work with a chilly Swedish gloved finger – but without exploring the production version of the system we'll leave that for another day.

The rest of the interior very nicely captures the calm Scandinavian landscapes it set out to project. The deep blue saddle leather, driftwood inserts and beautiful Swedish wool carpets are a genuine delight. There's also a functional link to regionalism in the air vents: "they are much more prominent now because, in markets like China, there's a real demand for fresh air. This links back to our desire to create Scandinavian air and lifestyle within a car – an escapism from pollution."

It's details such as this that will calm the nerves of those who feel the core values of the brand have been abandoned by this car. In isolation the Concept Coupé may not have quite enough Volvo to convince those loyal to the brand's unique attributes but, as a marker in the sand of a much wider product landscape, it suggests a very interesting times ahead for a company with a huge amount of goodwill behind it.

Related articles:
Design Review: Volvo Concept Universe
Thomas Ingenlath appointed Vice President of Design for Volvo
Who's Where: Robin Page joins Volvo Cars as interior design director
Who's Where: Maximilian Missoni joins Volvo as exterior design chief

By Owen Ready