The 2014 North American International Auto Show in Detroit hosts the world premiere of Volvo Car Group’s (Volvo Cars) new Concept XC Coupé – the second of three concept cars that showcase the company’s future design direction.
The interior of the car is displayed on the stand in the form of a 1:1 scale hanging sculpture, making all the details and functionality of the versatile interior visible to all visitors to the stand.
In common with the highly-acclaimed and award-winning Volvo Concept Coupé, Senior Vice President of Design at Volvo Cars Thomas Ingenlath and his team use the Concept XC Coupé to demonstrate the design possibilities of Volvo Cars' new Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) that will underpin all cars from Volvo Cars in the future, starting with the all-new Volvo XC90 that premieres later this year.
And while the earlier Concept Coupé showcased proportions of a sleek coupé, the Volvo Concept XC Coupé has a strong connection to both an active outdoor lifestyle and Volvo Cars' aim to offer customers a world-class safety and support package.
"Enjoying a car with great power and capabilities, at the same time as you are safe and protected, gives a great feeling of joy and freedom," said Thomas Ingenlath, Senior Vice President Design at Volvo Cars.
The Concept XC Coupé is also presented alongside a separate interior sculpture.
"We wanted to create a piece of art which also highlighted the conceptual and innovative stowage area. And to be able to show it to all stand attendees, rather than just those getting close to the car, we created the sculpture in satin white and dark glass that covers the stowage area and extreme skiing equipment. A true piece of art placed in a world of functional design," said Robin Page, Director Interior Design at Volvo Cars.
The interior sculpture emphasizes Volvo Cars' philosophy of "Designed Around You" by focusing on how the stowage area is cleverly designed to accommodate customers' outdoor activity equipment. The sculpture shows how the designers have designed a wet and dry compartment for equipment in a modern and aesthetically clean way.
"The colour scheme and modern design language illustrates our connection and influence from modern design products for outdoor activities as being produced by companies such as POC, based in Sweden," said Thomas Ingenlath. "The part I am most proud of is creating something so unique and fresh in an industry that mostly works to quiet traditional ways of showing new products. To me this is a true piece of art."
