Volvo Car Corporation
Press Information
Volvo C70 convertible - a historical design challenge
For the first time ever, Volvo's design department has tackled the delicate
challenge to create a convertible.
It is 40 years since Volvo last produced an open car and it was not designed
within the company.
The Volvo C70 convertible, on the other hand, was designed under the
leadership of Volvo's design director Peter Horbury.
The first open Volvo, known as the O V4, was produced in 1927 and was largely the
work of the artist Helmer Mas-0lle, who presented a number of proposals for the way
the first series-manufactured cars should be designed.
The second open Volvo, the Volvo Sport from 1956, had a body made of plastic . The car
was designed by the US company Glasspar, which pioneered fibreglass car bodies and
boat hulls.
So the production of the Volvo C70 convertible was historical - and a challenge that was
very much out of the ordinary for Volvo's design department.
In principle, the assignment was formulated as four requests:
Create plenty of room for four adults in a car that looks like a two-seater
Make sure the car is equally attractive with the soft top up or down
No bulky soft top above the bodywork
Clear, elegant lines, just like the coupé model
Just as in the development of the C70 coupé
,
it was a question of creating a car customers
want rather than a car they need.
Horbury's team designed both the C70 coupé and the C70 convertible at the same time to
obtain total harmony between their designs. The C70 convertible imposed perhaps even
greater demands when it came to the genuine cohesion of the lines, as the vital design
element of the roof is missing.
New image calls for new lines
The Volvo C70 coupé and convertible have been created to expand Volvo's business by
attracting new customers, customers who have not been reached by previous Volvo
models.
Summary of Contents for C70 convertible
Page 1: ......
