Future Basic: 1996-2013 Volvo C70

Within the customary Scandinavian style, type and performance typically exist on the identical airplane. For instance, take the soft recliner that provides very good consolation in addition to a smooth, fashionable profile. Or the Nordic minimalism of a pure wooden eating desk that seats eight. Or the Volvo C70.

The luscious, female strains of the Volvo, designed with assist from Ian Callum, well-known for his designs for Jaguar and Aston, complemented reasonably than disrupted its breakthrough characteristic for the second era C70: a self-storing hardtop that turned the machine right into a “coupe cabriolet.”

The C70 launched in 1996 on the Paris Auto Present, and from the get-go, it modified — truly, it annihilated — Volvo’s decades-long styling custom of boxy, rectilinear designs. In line with Peter Horbury, Volvo’s design chief from 1991 to 2002, with the C70, Volvo threw away the field, however “saved the toy inside. Our imaginative and prescient was to design a convertible that may meet the wants of a household of 4 in search of snug blue-sky motoring in a automobile additionally offering fashionable appears to be like, efficiency and faultless driving and road-holding.”

Apparently the thought was to not reinvent the Swedes’ superb P1800S sports activities coupe from the Sixties, however, as Horbury stated, to throw away the field. And create a cushty, fashionable, adequately powered boulevard cruiser.

To problem their opponents — the targets included the BMW 3 Collection (don’t they at all times?) and Mercedes CLK —  Volvo’s engineers did their homework, auditioning the Germans on European roads.

The C70’s growth, undertaken collectively by Volvo and by Oxford-based touring automobile specialist Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR), was rocky and was dissolved previous to the automobile’s launch. However TWR’s design and suspension work proved helpful. And Volvo’s contributions in design have been stirling.

Why is the Volvo C70 a Future Basic?

The mission assertion for the C70 from the outset was to style a real convertible, a two-door, luxurious sports activities automobile that mixed efficiency and a excessive stage of kit with the Volvo’s popularity for security. The mission was achieved.

We’ve already talked about design and chassis growth. Concerning efficiency … effectively, you can’ve had your selection, so long as it was the dependable T5, a five-cylinder, 2.3 liter turbocharged motor that’s some functions made 240 horsepower and 240 Ib-ft of torque. In some markets, the automobile was provided with different engine configurations, with horsepower that ranged from 170 to 245.

What’s the best instance of the Volvo C70?

Volvo took pains to make the C70 particular from the start. Seventeen completely different exterior colours have been developed below the supervision of designer José Diaz de la Vega (followers of the C70 could recall {that a} Garnet Crimson model was pushed by Val Kilmer within the movie variations of “The Saint”). The C70 additionally performed a terrific audio setup for its time: loudspeakers from the Danish status model Dynaudio, Dolby Encompass and an amplifier with as much as 400 watts.

In 1997, Volvo’s first manufacturing convertible was added to the coupe and it quickly stole the limelight. Volvo even give up making the coupé by 2002 to concentrate on the convertible just for one other three years.

The second era C70, full with its trendy folding steel roof designed by Pinanfarina, was revealed in Frankfurt in 2005 and from 2006 to 2013 — when C70 manufacturing ceased — changed each the convertible and the coupé. The retractable hardtop went on sale within the U.S. in spring, 2006.

The three-section hardtop meeting itself is price a separate story.  Manufactured by Pininfarina in Uddevalla, it rose or retracted in lower than 30 seconds and features a “world” swap that permits simultaneous elevating or reducing of all home windows, and a button to power-activate the elevating of the folded high stack inside the trunk — particularly to extend entry to cargo storage.

The C70’s intercourse enchantment and superstar roof didn’t do a lot to impress Geely, Volvo’s new Chinese language homeowners. Their priorities concerned constructing a model targeted on sedans and crossovers. After a complete manufacturing run of each generations of the automobile of about 160,000 models, it was time to bid adieu to this funky, formidable “toy” in 2013.

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Are there any good alternate options to the Volvo C70?

When Volvo launched the C70 it Paris, it joined a brand new crop of huge 2-to-3-litre European coupés was on its approach. The late Nineties introduced forth the likes of the Peugeot 406 Coupé, the Mercedes-Benz CLK, and the BMW 3 Collection, all smooth merchandise of their design period.

From American and Japan, patrons can ponder the Infiniti G37 Convertible, with a extra highly effective 325-horsepower 3.7-liter V-6 engine, and an obtainable six-speed handbook transmission. The Ford Mustang shares among the extrovert sensibilities of the C70, though lacks the refinement and the Volvo cache.

For individuals who’ve received a hankering for a retractable hardtop, contemplate the Volkswagen Eos, which was a superbly competent substitute for the Volvo, though its agility was hampered by its awkward weight distribution.